English-speaking world

The English-speaking world is the set of 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative or cultural language. It is a language-defined grouping rather than a territory with fixed borders, and it spans North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Within it, the countries where most people speak English as a native language are sometimes called the Anglosphere, and five of the largest, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, are described as the core Anglosphere. English spread around the world from the seventeenth century, first through the influence of England and later the United Kingdom, and then that of the United States. Estimates of total speakers run from 1.5 billion to 2 billion, with about 400 million native speakers as of 2022. Countries such as India, Nigeria, the Philippines and Singapore also have millions of native speakers of English-based varieties. Nations where English is only a widely learned foreign language, such as the Netherlands or Sweden, are not counted as part of it.