Figures are from the year 2007 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. English speaker figures are for persons age 5 and older. Total population age 5 and older was 280,950,438 of which 267,444,149 stated that they spoke English "very well" or "well". Second language speakers are respondents age 5 and older who reported they do not speak English at home but know it "very well" or "well".[1]
Estimate by Euromonitor International (2009), based on trade interviews, data from the Pakistan Government's Statistics Division and other government bodies.[7]
Total speakers: Census 2000, text above Figure 7. 63.71% of the 66.7 million people aged 5 years or more could speak English. Native speakers: Census 1995, as quoted by Andrew Gonzalez in The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 19 (5&6), 487–525. (1998). Ethnologue lists 3.4 million native speakers with 75% of the population speaking it as an additional language.[8]
Native speakers: Statistisches Bundesamt (cited here). Non-native speakers: Eurobarometer report 2006 Does not include foreign military personnel based in Germany.
Source: 2001 Census - Knowledge of Official Languages and Mother Tongue. The 2001 count noted that of 29,639,030 speakers, 20,014,645 spoke English only, and 5,231,575 spoke English and French, while 3,946,525 spoke French only and 446,920 who were classified as speaking "neither English nor French". No data was listed for persons who spoke English and a language other than French. The native speakers figure comprises 122,660 people with both French and English as a native language, plus 17,572,170 people with English and not French as a native language.
Source: 2001 Census. [2] The 2001 census data is subject to multiple interpretations. The data noted that 18,972,350 persons out of 21,394,309 total were speakers of a language, and excluded young children. However, more than a million of those 18,972,350 persons provided no information; 879,778 did not give information on proficiency, and 203,101 were "overseas visitors" who were not asked. Of the 17,889,671 persons for whom an inquiry was made 17,357,833 spoke English only, or "well" or "very well" as a second language; while 531,838 spoke "not well" or "not at all".
Figures are for English users in mainland China only (i.e. excluding Hong Kong where English is an official language and Macau). The oft-cited figure of 300 million is for "learners."[10]
Source: Basic Results, Tables 4.4 and 4.1, Russian Census (2002). The "total" figure is the number of residents who reported English as one of the language they knew. The "first language" figure is the number of residents who reported "American" or "English" as their nationality. The "additional languages" figure is the difference. More than 9 million schoolgoers studied English as a foreign language in 2008-2009.
Figure for speakers of English as "main language", according to Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel 2008[14] Source for number of non-native English speakers is 1999 publication by Prof. François Grin cited here: http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/countries/uk/language.html
There were 4,027,947 responses to 2006 Census: Language spoken. 3,673,679 gave English as a response, 81,936 had no English but another language. The balance of 272,382 were; no language (too young) 75,195, no response 196,221, response unidentifiable 588, response outside scope 378. Hence it is most meaningful to express the English speaking per cent without including the figures for these 272,382. This gives 97.8% English-speaking, 2.2% non-English-speaking (3,673,679 and 81,936 divided by 3,755,565) Crystal (2003), p. 109, gives figures of 3,700,000 native speakers and 150,000 second language speakers.
Number of those who understand spoken English, from these 1.9 million: 311,435 (2.6%/16.6%) can only read, 931,444 (7.7%/49.6%) can read and write in English. The number of native speakers is the sum of Americans and Englishmen "by nationality". (Census 2009)
^For the distinction between "English Speakers," and "English Users," please see: TESOL-India (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages)], India: World's Second Largest English-Speaking Country. Their article explains the difference between the 350 million number mentioned in a previous version of this Wikipedia article and the current number:
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"Wikipedia's India estimate of 350 million includes two categories – "English Speakers" and "English Users". The distinction between the Speakers and Users is that Users only know how to read English words while Speakers know how to read English, understand spoken English as well as form their own sentences to converse in English. The distinction becomes clear when you consider the China numbers. China has over 200 million users that can read English words but, as anyone can see on the streets of China, only handful of million who are English speakers."
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^An analysis of the 2001 Census of India, published in 2010, concluded that approximately 86 million Indians reported English as their second language, and another 39 million reported it as their third language. No data was available whether these individuals were English speakers or users.
^Jian Yang (April 2006). “Learners and users of English in China”. English Today22 (2): 3–10. doi:10.1017/S0266078406002021.. Quote: "What this suggests, it seems, is that Yan’s (2004) ten million may after all be a more informed estimate of the actual regular users of English in China." (page 9)"
^Languages spokenArchived 2007年3月29日, at the Wayback Machine., 2006 Census, Statistics New Zealand. No figure is given for the number of native speakers, but it would be somewhere between the number of people who spoke English only (3,008,058) and the total number of English speakers (3,673,623), if one ignores the 197,187 people who did not provide a usable answer.
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