French FireBible

 

THE FRENCH LANGUAGE

There are about 220 million French speakers worldwide. Eighty million of those are native French speakers. The continent of Africa is home to the highest number of French speakers across the globe. French is spoken in 26 countries on the African continent.

 

In Europe, French is not only the official language of France, but has official status in Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, and one region of northwest Italy. In the Americas and the Caribbean, French has official status in Canada, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Haiti and Martinique.

 

The French language serves as the official language or shared official language of several African countries. It is spoken by 115 million people spread across 26 Francophone countries and is spoken as either a first or second language.

 

Though its dialects, vocabulary, and pronunciations vary widely from standard French, it is considered common language essential for communication between nations. Due to population growth, its use in administration, and the expansion of higher education, an estimated 80% of French speakers will reside in Africa by 2050.

 

French Speaking African Countries

Algeria Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Réunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Togo, and Tunisia.