DATA STORY: Did you know that there are more Hindi speakers globally than French or Spanish?

Aug 28, 2017 05:10 PM IST | Source: Moneycontrol.com

Only English (1,500 million speakers) and Chinese (1,100 million) are spoken more than Hindi

Chaitanya Gudipaty

Moneycontrol News If you want to build upon your linguistic repertoire, it would be wise to not miss out Hindi. With 650 million speakers of the language globally, Hindi is more popular than French, Spanish and German.

Only English (1,500 million speakers) and Chinese (1,100 million) are spoken more than Hindi. Another Indian language that makes it to Statista’s list of most spoken languages globally is Bengali (233 million speakers).The revelation comes as a few Indian states debate over the use of Hindi language in government offices, bill boards, and signage. The anti-Hindi imposition wave, which has roots dating back to the 1960s, is picking pace again.

Watch | Hindi vs Others: The Politics of Language In India

Protests have been raging since 1960 when the government sought to replace English with Hindi as the country’s official language. Tamil Nadu had dropped Hindi from its official languages list in 1968.Apart from India, where most of the Hindi speakers hail from, the language is also spoken in United States of America, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Fiji, Nepal, Trinidad And Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, South Africa, Mauritius, Uganda,  and Singapore.