Source: Ethnologue. Counting native speakers, though for some languages only the total number was available.
The colors indicate the language family:
Black: Indo-European
Light blue: Niger-Congo
Green: Austronesian
Pink: Afro-Asiatic
Dark blue: Sino-Tibetan
Purple: other.
Numbers can be outdated or rough estimates
The difference between separate languages or dialects is not clear-cut. I try to be lenient in the type-ins, suggestions are welcome.
Regarding the biggest of these (Low Saxon), I think ethnologue made a mistake: they say a total of 2.5 million speakers of which 0.3 L1 and 2.2 L2. Hard to believe many people would learn Low Saxon as a second language.
Regarding the biggest of these (Low Saxon), I think ethnologue made a mistake: they say a total of 2.5 million speakers of which 0.3 L1 and 2.2 L2. Hard to believe many people would learn Low Saxon as a second language.