Geographical distribution of French speakers

The French language became an international language, the second international language alongside Latin, in the Middle Ages, "from the fourteenth century onwards". It was not by virtue of the power of the Kingdom of France: '"... until the end of the fifteenth century, the French of the chancellery spread as a political and literary language because the French court was the model of chivalric culture". Consequently, it was less as a centralising monarch than as a "gentle courtly prince" that the king unwittingly spread his language" and "the methods of expansion were not political"'.^[1] This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the language of European diplomacy and international relations.^[2]

The terms Francophonie or Francophone world refer the whole body of people and organizations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. French is the third most geographically widespread language in the world after English and Spanish, which have 400 million more native speakers than French, with the French majority native world consisting of only three countries and many territories where French is de facto language.^[3]

According to the 2022 report of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), 321 million people speak French.^[4] The OIF states that despite a decline in the number of learners of French in Europe, the overall number of speakers is rising, largely because of its presence in African countries: of the 212 million who use French daily, 54.7% are living in Africa.^[5] The OIF figures have been contested as being underestimated due to the methodology used and its strict definition of the word francophone. The French Conseil économique, social et environnemental estimate that were they included, the total number of French speakers passed 500 million in the year 2020.^[6]