French Language Statistics
  • French is one of only two languages in the world spoken on five continents.
  • Over 122,000,000 people speak French.
  • More U.S. students who study abroad go to France than any other country except the United Kingdom.
  • French as a foreign language is the second most frequently taught foreign language in the world after English.
  • French is one of the official languages of over 40 nations.
  • The United Nations has six official languages and two working languages (French is one of both).
  • The five principal languages of the European Union are: German, French, Italian, Spanish, and English.  French and English are its two working languages.
  • The French rank 6th in U.S foreign investment; 1990 the French industry invested approximately $3.7 billion in the US market; over 1000 French companies have subsidiaries operating in the US.
  • France is the world’s fourth largest economy after the US, Japan, and Germany.
  • French is the official language of postal services around the world and of the International Red Cross.
  • One example of the importance French can be seen in a recent listing of international jobs (4/8/97) distributed by the US State Department: 47 required or preferred French; 29 Spanish; 10 Russian; three German.
  • French is the foreign language spoken by our largest trading partner (Canada).
  • The US does business and trade with the following countries in order of importance: 1) French-speaking countries 2) Japan 3) Spanish-speaking countries.
  • French companies employ over 400,000 Americans.
  • More tourists visit France each year than any other country in the world.