List of countries where Spanish is an official language

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The following is a list of the 20 countries where Spanish is an official language:

Rank	Country	Continent	Population[1]
1	Mexico*	North America	109,955,400
2	Spain	Europe	45,200,737
3	Colombia	South America	45,013,674
4	Argentina*	South America	40,677,348
5	Peru	South America	29,180,899
6	Venezuela	South America	26,414,815
7	Chile	South America	16,454,143
8	Ecuador	South America	13,927,650
9	Guatemala	Central America	13,002,206
10	Cuba	America	11,423,952
11	Dominican Republic	America	9,507,133
12	Bolivia	South America	9,247,816
13	Honduras	Central America	7,639,327
14	El Salvador	Central America	7,066,403
15	Paraguay	South America	6,831,306
16	Nicaragua	Central America	5,785,846
17	Costa Rica	Central America	4,195,914
18	Uruguay	South America	3,477,778
19	Panama	Central America	3,292,693
20	Equatorial Guinea	Africa	616,459

*Mexico and Argentina does not have an official language at the federal level; however, Spanish is the national language and spoken by the majority.

Spanish was removed as an official language of the Philippines in 1973 and was removed from being a compulsory subject in 1987; However, on 08 August 2007, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that the Philippine government asked help from the Spanish Government in her plan to reintroduce the Spanish as a required subject in the Philippine school system.^[2]

Contents 1 Dependent entities 2 Countries where Spanish is commonly used 3 Countries where a Spanish-based creole is spoken 4 Organizations where Spanish is official 5 References

[edit] Dependent entities

There are dependent entities of the United States, Argentina, and Chile where Spanish is official or spoken by an important minority.

No.	Country	Population	Status
1	Puerto Rico	3,958,128	An unincorporated territory of the U.S. where Spanish and English are the official languages (Spanish is the primary language).
2	United States Virgin Islands	108,000	A self-governing unincorporated territory of the U.S. with a Hispanic minority. Note that English is the only de jure official language.
3	Argentine Antarctica	300	Argentine territory in Antarctica
4	Chilean Antarctica	200	Chilean territory in Antarctica

[edit] Countries where Spanish is commonly used

Spanish language is not official but has a special status in several countries (in the education system, the media, and some official documents): Andorra, Belize, Gibraltar, United States, and Western Sahara^{[citation needed]}. In Andorra and Belize, Spanish is spoken by a majority and is commonly used in the media, education system, official documents and an important lingua franca of the populations.

No.	Country	Population
1	Andorra	72,413
2	Belize	301,270
3	Gibraltar British overseas territory	28,002
4	United States	303,824,646
5	Western Sahara (SADR) Partially recognized state	267,405

[edit] Countries where a Spanish-based creole is spoken

The Spanish-based creole language of Papiamento¹ is official in Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. Chavacano is spoken in the Philippines, and Palenquero is spoken in Colombia but are not official.

No.	Country	Creole Language	Estimated Speakers[3]	Status
1	Netherlands Antilles	Papiamento	179,000	official
2	Aruba	Papiamento	60,000	official
3	Philippines	Chavacano	607,000	not official
4	Colombia	Palenquero	500	not official

¹Papiamento is considered both a Spanish- and Portuguese-based creole language^[4][5]

[edit] Organizations where Spanish is official

United Nations (UN) European Union (EU) Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Organization of American States (OAS) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) Mercosur African Union (AU) Antarctic Treaty Secretariat (ATS)

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) International Labour Organization (ILO) International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Trade Organization (WTO) Latin Union Interpol Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) Central American Common Market (CACM)

[edit] References

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