- ISO 639
fr- Its own name
- français
- Script
- Latin
- Direction
- Left to right
French
French (français) is spoken by 333M people across 64 territories in CLDR, and is official nationally in 44 of them. France holds 20% of its speakers. One translation covers all of it, which is why localization is planned by language and launched by market.
At a glance
What one translation into French buys, before anyone argues about which market to enter first.
Speakers
333M
France 20% · Congo - Kinshasa 18% · Cameroon 6%
First and second language speakers, summed across the 64 territories CLDR records. The bar splits them by territory, largest first.
Online speakers
203.2M
0%100%
61% of speakers, once each territory's speaker count is scaled by its World Bank internet rate. Territories with no internet figure contribute nothing, so this is a floor.
Concentration
20%
0%100%
The largest single territory, France, holds 20% of speakers. Spread out enough that regional wording and currency will come up.
Territories
64
44 where it is official nationally, 44 where at least one person in five speaks it. The rest are diaspora and minority populations, which CLDR does record.
Reachable GDP
$51.4T
Combined GDP of every territory where the language appears at all. An upper bound on the market, not a revenue forecast: it counts the whole economy, not the speakers' share of it.
Translation rate
1.10×
1.0×1.6×+
About 10% above a mainstream pair, reflecting how many vendors work in it. Feeds the budget estimator directly.
Where French is spoken
Every territory CLDR records, largest speaker count first. Share is of that territory's own population, so the column does not add up to anything.
| Territory | Share of that market | Speakers | Online | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FranceFR | 97% | 66.3M | 58.8M | official |
| Congo - KinshasaCD | 51% | 58.9M | 11.6M | official |
| CameroonCM | 68% | 21.1M | 9.7M | official |
| AlgeriaDZ | 33% | 15.5M | 12M | official |
| GermanyDE | 18% | 15.1M | 14.2M | minority or diaspora |
| MoroccoMA | 36% | 13.5M | 12.3M | official |
| ItalyIT | 20% | 12.2M | 10.9M | major |
| United KingdomGB | 17% | 11.6M | 11.1M | minority or diaspora |
| CanadaCA | 29% | 11.3M | 10.6M | official |
| Côte d’IvoireCI | 34% | 10.2M | 4.2M | official |
| BurundiBI | 59% | 8M | 689.2K | official |
| MadagascarMG | 27% | 8M | 1.5M | official |
| TunisiaTN | 53% | 6.4M | 4.9M | official |
| Burkina FasoBF | 25% | 5.8M | 1.6M | official |
| BeninBJ | 34% | 5M | 1.7M | official |
| HaitiHT | 42% | 4.9M | 2.4M | official |
| SenegalSN | 26% | 4.9M | 2.9M | official |
| BelgiumBE | 38% | 4.6M | 4.4M | official |
| GuineaGN | 27% | 3.8M | 1.3M | official |
| MaliML | 17% | 3.7M | 1.4M | official |
| Congo - BrazzavilleCG | 61% | 3.7M | 1.8M | official |
| TogoTG | 41% | 3.7M | 1.4M | official |
| SwitzerlandCH | 39% | 3.5M | 3.4M | official |
| NigerNE | 13% | 3.4M | 532.8K | official |
| NetherlandsNL | 19% | 3.4M | 3.3M | minority or diaspora |
| ChadTD | 13% | 2.5M | 313.4K | official |
| RomaniaRO | 12% | 2.2M | 2M | minority or diaspora |
| LebanonLB | 38% | 2M | 1.6M | major |
| United StatesUS | 0.56% | 1.9M | 1.8M | minority or diaspora |
| Central African RepublicCF | 29% | 1.6M | 225.9K | official |
| GabonGA | 63% | 1.5M | 1.1M | official |
| PortugalPT | 15% | 1.5M | 1.4M | minority or diaspora |
| SyriaSY | 6% | 1.4M | 475.5K | minority or diaspora |
| AustriaAT | 13% | 1.2M | 1.1M | minority or diaspora |
| MauritiusMU | 73% | 956.7K | 701.3K | official |
| RwandaRW | 6% | 790.2K | 250.5K | official |
| GreeceGR | 7% | 763.7K | 658.8K | minority or diaspora |
| RéunionRE | 89% | 701K | — | official |
| IrelandIE | 13% | 680.4K | 661.2K | minority or diaspora |
| LuxembourgLU | 92% | 617.6K | 612.2K | official |
| MauritaniaMR | 13% | 562.6K | 257.6K | minority or diaspora |
| Equatorial GuineaGQ | 29% | 520.8K | 329.7K | official |
| DjiboutiDJ | 50% | 497.5K | 324.9K | official |
| GuadeloupeGP | 84% | 380.3K | — | official |
| MartiniqueMQ | 81% | 353.3K | — | official |
| Guinea-BissauGW | 15% | 319.9K | 95.2K | minority or diaspora |
| New CaledoniaNC | 99% | 301.1K | 246.9K | official |
| French PolynesiaPF | 98% | 297.5K | 216.3K | official |
| ComorosKM | 26% | 234K | 76.1K | official |
| French GuianaGF | 62% | 123.7K | — | official |
| MayotteYT | 63% | 122.2K | — | official |
| HungaryHU | 1% | 118.3K | 110.9K | minority or diaspora |
| VanuatuVU | 31% | 98.6K | 22K | official |
| CyprusCY | 7% | 87.2K | 78.1K | minority or diaspora |
| MaltaMT | 13% | 61.1K | 57.3K | minority or diaspora |
| SeychellesSC | 53% | 52K | 45.7K | official |
| São Tomé & PríncipeST | 20% | 44.7K | 26.4K | major |
| MonacoMC | 97% | 30.9K | 30.6K | official |
| St. MartinMF | 84% | 27.7K | — | official |
| Wallis & FutunaWF | 83% | 13.3K | — | official |
| St. BarthélemyBL | 85% | 6K | — | official |
| AndorraAD | 7% | 5.8K | 5.5K | minority or diaspora |
| St. Pierre & MiquelonPM | 100% | 5.1K | — | official |
| French Southern TerritoriesTF | 100% | 140 | — | major |
The long tail matters. CLDR does record diaspora populations, so a language usually appears in more territories than its home markets, at small shares. Those rows rarely justify a launch on their own. They are why a language's total reach is larger than any one country page shows. A dash in the online column means the territory has no World Bank internet figure, and it does not mean zero.
What it takes to ship
The work that is not translation: the writing system, the grammar your message format has to survive, and what the words cost.
Writing system
Latin
Lays out left to right, the same as the source. Platform default fonts cover this script.
Plural categories
3
Every counted message needs up to 3 arms, and the translator has to be given all of them.
Rate index
1.10×
Prices about 10% above a mainstream pair.