The Number of French Speakers Around the World Has Increased by 25 Percent

Based on the report of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), the number of French speakers has increased since 2010 by as much as 25% on a global scale. This is welcome news to France as it seeks to increase its economic opportunities overseas.

It can be recalled that French was once the international language of diplomacy and the official language in the royal courts but for several decades now it had been overtaken by English. According to French experts, if the right policies are implemented by the government to rein the global scope of the French language, it has the potential to boost the growth of the country’s economy.

Huge leap

Based on the OIF report, French now ranks as the world’s sixth most spoken language, with an increase in number from 220 million speakers in 2010 to 274 million this year. The increase is largely attributed to the demographic increase within nations in sub-Saharan Africa, which accounted for 15% of the overall growth, according to Abdou Diouf, the outgoing secretary general of the OIF. The number of French speakers is projected to increase to 767 million by 2060. He also added that French is the world’s second most commonly learned language and likewise the second ranked working language in several organizations. It is the second language used in international news, the third most used language in business and is the fourth language of the Internet. However, it is to be noted that only about 212 million out of the 274 million speakers use French on a daily basis.

Reviving a stagnant economy

French President Francois Hollande sought new avenues to revive the stagnating French economy and gave the task to Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister in 2012. He was ordered to develop external business and reduce the country’s trade deficit. Since then the foreign minister had focused on winning business contracts in the markets where French companies had not gained much ground previously. He also brought the focus back on the African continent and tried to win more markets against other countries such as China.

The refocusing was helped greatly by the result of the research commissioned by the French president. The result revealed that countries with connections via language tend to do more business together by as much as 65%. The report also said that there are 37 countries around the world where French is either largely spoken by the population or it’s the country’s official language, presenting them with a huge market to tap and cover.

Support needed

While the news is a cause of elation among the supporters and protectors of the French language, the Director General of the OIF, Clément Duhaime stated that the government should also invest in education to boost the spread of the language. He said that if teacher training is lacking and there are no education facilities present, the younger generation would quickly turn away from the language.

The result of the OIF report is somewhat the same as the results gathered by Natixis, a bank in France, from the study they commissioned early in the year. It said that French could be the most spoken language in the world by 2050, potentially due to the 750 million people that speak the language particularly in the sub-Saharan African nations. Some were skeptical, saying that French would not overtake English, although the potential is there, since there are 32 countries where French is the official language. Still, even if it is the official language, there remains the fact that it is not the most widely spoken language in these countries.

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