List of countries where Spanish is an official language

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The following is a list of the 21 countries where Spanish is an official language:

No.	Country	Population[1]
1	Mexico*(de facto)	109,955,400
2	Spain	45,200,737
3	Colombia	45,013,674
4	Argentina	40,677,348
5	Peru	29,180,899
6	Venezuela	26,414,815
7	Chile	16,454,143
8	Ecuador	13,927,650
9	Guatemala	13,002,206
10	Cuba	11,423,952
11	Dominican Republic	9,507,133
12	Bolivia	9,247,816
13	Honduras	7,639,327
14	El Salvador	7,066,403
15	Paraguay	6,831,306
16	Nicaragua	5,785,846
17	Costa Rica	4,195,914
18	Puerto Rico***	3,944,259
19	Uruguay	3,477,778
20	Panama	3,292,693
21	Equatorial Guinea	616,459
	Total	408,146,072

*Mexico does not have an official language at the federal level; however, Spanish is the national language and spoken by the majority. *** Puerto rico is not a country, but rather a dependant territory of the United States

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] It remains to be seen if Spanish will be reinstated as an official language.

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 where Spanish is official.

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	Gibraltar	28,002	British overseas territory
3	Argentine Antarctica	300	Argentinean 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	Spanish Speaking Population
1	Andorra	72,413	72,000
2	Belize	301,270	100,000
3	Gibraltar British overseas territory	28,002	28,000
4	United States	303,824,646	35,000,000
5	Western Sahara (SADR) Partially recognized state	267,405	100,000

[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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