English is spoken by over two billion people as either a first or second language. It is an official language in 75 countries and is used widely for international business, science, technology, academia and pop culture. Over one billion people were estimated to be learning English by the year 2000 due to its prevalence as the main language for many fields and forms of communication globally.

1. FACTS ABOUT
ENGLISH
Adapted from
http://www.britishcouncil.or
g/learning-faq-the-englishlanguage.htm

2. How many people speak
English?




English is an official language in seventy five
countries with a total population of over two
billion people
Around 375 million speak English as a first
Language
It’s possible that around 750 million people
speak English as a foreign language
One in each four people speak English and
there are more and more people learning to
speak it

3. What do people use English
for?
 English
is the main language of
books, newspapers, airports and air-traffic
control, international business and
academic
conferences, science, technology, diplom
acy, sport, international
competitions, pop music and advertising
 over two-thirds of the world's scientists
read in English

4.  More
than two-thirds of the world's
scientists read in English
 Three quarters of the world's mail is written
in English
 Eighty per cent of the world's
electronically stored information is in
English
 Thirty-six per cent of the 200 million users of
the Internet communicate in English

5. How many people are
learning English?
 By
the year 2000 it was estimated that
over one billion people will be learning
English