The Francophonie worldwide: where is French spoken today?

At L’Atelier An Phu, we teach French in Ho Chi Minh City to children, teenagers and adults. But learning French also means discovering a language spoken far beyond the borders of France.

Today, French is used across all five continents and brings together hundreds of millions of speakers. From Paris to Montreal, Brussels to Dakar, Geneva to Kinshasa, or Hanoi to Port-au-Prince, the French language has developed in very different historical and cultural contexts.

But where is French spoken today? Which countries are French-speaking? How many people speak French around the world? In which countries is French an official language? What role does French play in Africa, Asia or the Americas? And what are the links between these countries and France?

In this article, we take you on a journey around the Francophone world, continent by continent, with figures on populations, the number of French speakers and the official status of French in each country.

 

What is the Francophonie?

The term Francophonie refers both to all people who speak French and to the political, cultural, educational and economic cooperation network organized in particular around the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

The OIF currently brings together 90 states and governments. Not all of them are predominantly French-speaking: some have joined the organization because they maintain important historical, cultural, educational or diplomatic ties with the Francophone world. (Francophonie)

It is therefore important to distinguish between two concepts:

• a French-speaking country, where French is widely used by the population;
• a Francophile country, where French is less widely spoken but enjoys significant interest, particularly in education.

Vietnam is an excellent example of the second situation.

 

French-speaking countries in figures

The figures below are mainly based on the 2025 estimates from the OIF’s Observatory of the French Language. Total population figures are indicative, and the number of French speakers is estimated, as there is no comparable linguistic census in every country.

 

🇪🇺 Europe

Europe is one of the historical birthplaces of the French language. France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg form a particularly strong Francophone area, while French is also widely studied in many other European countries.

Country	Total population	French speakers	Official language
🇫🇷 France	≈ 69.6 M	≈ 66.8 M	Yes
🇧🇪 Belgium	≈ 11.8 M	≈ 9.1 M	Yes*
🇨🇭 Switzerland	≈ 9.0 M	≈ 2.0 M	Yes**
🇱🇺 Luxembourg	≈ 680,000	≈ 616,000	Yes***
🇲🇨 Monaco	≈ 39,000	≈ 37,000	Yes
🇷🇴 Romania	≈ 19 M	≈ 1.1 M	No
🇲🇩 Moldova	≈ 2.4 M	≈ 400,000	No
🇦🇱 Albania	≈ 2.8 M	≈ 300,000	No
🇦🇲 Armenia	≈ 3.0 M	≈ 200,000	No
🇬🇷 Greece	≈ 10.4 M	≈ 300,000	No

* French is an official language in Belgium alongside Dutch and German. ** French is one of Switzerland’s four national languages and one of the official languages of the Swiss Confederation. *** Luxembourg has three administrative and official languages: Luxembourgish, French and German.

France remains by far the country with the largest number of French speakers. However, Belgium and Switzerland also have very large Francophone communities. The OIF notes that historically French-speaking areas such as France, Belgium, French-speaking Switzerland and Quebec have particularly high rates of French speakers.

 

🌎 The Americas

North America is home to one of the largest Francophone areas in the world: Quebec. French is also an official language of Canada at the federal level and is spoken by Francophone communities throughout the country.

Country	Total population	French speakers	Official language
🇨🇦 Canada	≈ 41 M	≈ 11.3 M	Yes
🇭🇹 Haiti	≈ 12 M	≈ 5.0 M	Yes
🇺🇸 United States	≈ 342 M	≈ 2.2 M	No
🇩🇲 Dominica	≈ 66,000	≈ 15,000	No
🇱🇨 Saint Lucia	≈ 180,000	limited Francophone community	No

Canada is a particularly interesting case. French is an official language alongside English, and Quebec is the country’s main Francophone territory. The OIF estimates that Canada has more than 11 million French speakers, including more than 8 million in Quebec.

In the United States, French is not an official language, but it is an important foreign language and a historical language in certain regions, particularly in Louisiana and New England. The OIF estimates that around 2.2 million people speak French in the United States.

 

🌍 Africa

This is where the Francophonie has become particularly important today.

Africa is now the demographic heart of the Francophone world. Around half of the world’s French speakers live in sub-Saharan Africa, and the majority of new French speakers today are African.

Country	Total population	French speakers	Official language
🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo	≈ 112.8 M	≈ 57.2 M	Yes
🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire	≈ 32.7 M	≈ 11.9 M	Yes
🇨🇲 Cameroon	≈ 29.9 M	≈ 12.3 M	Yes
🇲🇬 Madagascar	≈ 32.7 M	≈ 8.7 M	Yes
🇸🇳 Senegal	≈ 18.6 M	≈ 5.3 M	Yes
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	≈ 24.1 M	≈ 5.5 M	No*
🇲🇱 Mali	≈ 25.2 M	≈ 5.0 M	No*
🇧🇯 Benin	≈ 14.8 M	≈ 5.0 M	Yes
🇹🇳 Tunisia	≈ 12.3 M	≈ 6.6 M	No
🇹🇬 Togo	≈ 9.7 M	≈ 4.0 M	Yes
🇬🇳 Guinea	≈ 15.1 M	≈ 4.2 M	Yes
🇳🇪 Niger	≈ 27.9 M	≈ 3.8 M	No*
🇹🇩 Chad	≈ 20.3 M	≈ 2.7 M	Yes
🇬🇦 Gabon	≈ 2.6 M	≈ 1.7 M	Yes
🇲🇷 Mauritania	≈ 5.3 M	≈ 690,000	No
🇧🇮 Burundi	≈ 14.4 M	≈ 1.3 M	Yes
🇷🇼 Rwanda	≈ 14.3 M	≈ 750,000	Yes
🇩🇯 Djibouti	≈ 1.2 M	≈ 590,000	Yes
🇨🇬 Republic of the Congo	≈ 6.5 M	≈ 4.0 M	Yes
🇨🇫 Central African Republic	≈ 5.5 M	≈ 1.3 M	Yes
🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	≈ 1.9 M	≈ 560,000	Yes
🇰🇲 Comoros	≈ 880,000	≈ 333,000	Yes
🇲🇺 Mauritius	≈ 1.3 M	≈ 920,000	No
🇨🇻 Cape Verde	≈ 530,000	≈ 57,000	No

* Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger left the OIF in 2025 and subsequently changed the status of French in their legislation, meaning that it is no longer their main official language. French nevertheless remains widely used in certain sectors and continues to be spoken by part of the population.

The case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is particularly remarkable. With around 57 million French speakers, it is now the second-largest Francophone country in the world after France.

In many African countries, however, French is not the mother tongue of the majority of the population. It functions instead as a second language, particularly in administration, education, the media and the professional world.

This is why calling a country “Francophone” does not necessarily mean that the entire population speaks French at home.

 

🌍 North Africa and the Middle East

French also has a particular place in the countries of the Maghreb and in several Middle Eastern countries.

Country	Total population	French speakers	Official language
🇩🇿 Algeria	≈ 47 M	several million	No
🇲🇦 Morocco	≈ 38 M	≈ 13 M	No
🇹🇳 Tunisia	≈ 12 M	≈ 6.6 M	No
🇱🇧 Lebanon	≈ 5.8 M	≈ 1.5–2 M	No
🇪🇬 Egypt	≈ 118 M	≈ 3.5 M	No
🇶🇦 Qatar	≈ 3.1 M	several hundred thousand	No
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	≈ 11 M	several hundred thousand	No

In these countries, French is generally a second or foreign language, rather than an official language.

In Morocco, for example, French remains widely used in higher education, science, business and certain administrative sectors. The French Development Agency also works with the country to strengthen the teaching of French and scientific subjects in French. (National Assembly)

Lebanon, meanwhile, has a long Francophone educational tradition, with schools and universities where French continues to play an important role.

 

🌏 Asia: a more discreet Francophone presence

Asia is not the continent where French is most widely spoken, but it has several historical Francophone communities and networks.

Country	Total population	French speakers	Official language
🇻🇳 Vietnam	≈ 102 M	≈ 712,000	No
🇰🇭 Cambodia	≈ 17 M	several hundred thousand	No
🇱🇦 Laos	≈ 8 M	several hundred thousand	No
🇹🇭 Thailand	≈ 72 M	several hundred thousand	No
🇰🇷 South Korea	≈ 52 M	limited Francophone community	No
🇮🇱 Israel	≈ 10 M	≈ 600,000	No

Vietnam holds a particular place in the Asian Francophone world. The country has been a member of the OIF since 1970 and has long maintained educational, cultural and academic ties with France.

The OIF estimates that around 712,000 people in Vietnam were French speakers in 2025. This represents less than 1% of the population, but the country has an important network of French-language education, Francophone university programs and French schools.

Vietnam is therefore regularly described as a Francophile country rather than a country with a large Francophone population. France and Vietnam cooperate in areas including education, higher education, research and vocational training. The French Development Agency also identifies Vietnam as one of the countries where demand for cooperation with France remains particularly strong.

This also explains the presence of numerous French schools and language centers in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

 

🌏 Oceania: a Francophone world between France and the Pacific

Oceania has a relatively modest Francophone population in terms of numbers, but its presence is particularly interesting from a historical and geographical perspective. French is spoken both in independent states, such as Vanuatu, and in several French territories in the Pacific, notably New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna.

 

Why is French spoken in so many countries?

History explains much of this geographical distribution.

From the 17th century onwards, France gradually developed a political, commercial and cultural presence in Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

The colonial period then played a major role in spreading French across many regions of the world. However, reducing today’s Francophonie to this historical legacy would be overly simplistic.

After gaining independence, many countries chose to keep French as an official language or working language, particularly because it made it possible to communicate between populations speaking different national languages.

This is particularly visible in Africa.

In a country such as Côte d’Ivoire, for example, French can serve as a common language between populations whose mother tongues are different. It therefore plays a role that goes far beyond the country’s relationship with France.

Modern Francophonie has therefore gradually become a global linguistic community, rather than simply a network of former French colonies.

 

Does French still belong to France?

This is an interesting question.

France is obviously still the world’s main Francophone country, with nearly 67 million French speakers according to 2025 estimates. But France does not own the French language by itself.

French is now spoken by millions of Canadians, Belgians, Swiss, Africans, Haitians, Lebanese, Vietnamese and people from many other countries.

Francophone literature is an excellent example: Léopold Sédar Senghor, Assia Djebar, Amin Maalouf, Patrick Chamoiseau, Alain Mabanckou and Dany Laferrière have all contributed to the evolution of the French language outside France.

Contemporary French is therefore a global language, with different accents, expressions, cultural references and sometimes very different uses depending on the region.

 

A language that plays a major role in education

One of the main drivers of the Francophonie today is education.

In 2024, French was the language of instruction for approximately 93 million students worldwide, nearly three quarters of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

In addition, tens of millions of people learn French as a foreign language.

The OIF recorded approximately 51 million learners of French as a Foreign Language (FFL) worldwide in 2024. French was then the second most widely learned foreign language worldwide.

This helps explain why French continues to attract students in countries that are not themselves French-speaking.

For a Vietnamese student, learning French can open doors to:

• French universities;
• Francophone institutions in Belgium, Switzerland or Canada;
• university exchange programs;
• French and Francophone companies;
• international organizations;
• tourism, diplomacy and international cooperation.

 

What about the future?

The geography of French is changing.

For a long time, Europe represented the center of gravity of the Francophonie. Today, Africa is playing an increasingly important role.

The OIF estimates that half of all French speakers now live in sub-Saharan Africa and that this proportion is expected to continue increasing as the continent’s population grows.

This evolution means that the French of tomorrow will probably be even more African, multilingual and diverse.

And perhaps this is one of the most interesting things to understand when learning French: learning this language does not simply mean learning to speak like a French person.

It means discovering a language used in Quebec, Brussels, Geneva, Dakar, Kinshasa, Casablanca, Port-au-Prince, Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Francophonie at L’Atelier An Phu

The Francophonie today is much larger than France alone. Hundreds of millions of people use French in Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, sometimes as a mother tongue, sometimes as a second language or as a language of education.

This diversity is what makes French so rich. A French speaker from Montreal does not necessarily speak like someone from Paris, just as the French used in Dakar, Kinshasa, Brussels, Geneva or Ho Chi Minh City has its own particular characteristics. Yet they all belong to the same linguistic and cultural space.

For Vietnamese students, discovering this international dimension is particularly interesting: learning French does not simply mean discovering France, but also gaining access to a multitude of cultures, countries and opportunities around the world.

At L’Atelier An Phu, we offer French courses for children, teenagers and adults, adapted to different levels and objectives. Whether you want to learn French for everyday life, prepare for an exam such as the DELF or DALF or the TCF, improve your academic French or simply better understand Francophone culture, our team supports you throughout your learning journey.

Would you like to learn French in Ho Chi Minh City and discover the Francophone world? Contact L’Atelier An Phu to find out more about our courses.