Spanish, a Growing Global Language
According to the Anuario del Instituto Cervantes de 2023, almost 500 million people speak Spanish as their mother tongue, it is the second language in the world by number of native speakers and the fourth one in total; and more than 23 million people study Spanish as a foreign language. Furthermore, Spanish holds the third position in the United Nations and the fourth one in European Union institutions. Also interesting is that 87% of the tourists that visit Spanish-speaking countries come from places where Spanish is not spoken.
As regards the US, it is reckoned that in 2060 it will be the second largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, right after Mexico. To learn more, see below the latest Hispanic Map of the United States elaborated by the Observatory, along with other recent issues on the Spanish language of our series.