List of countries and territories where French is an official language

Although a non-official minority language, French is granted certain rights in the following countries and territories:

• Lebanon^[6]
• Louisiana ( United States)^[7]
• Maine ( United States)^[8]
• Mauritius^[9]

French is an official language, mostly in conjunction with English, of 36 international organizations. These include:

• African Union
• Council of Europe
• European Union
• International Olympic Committee
• NATO
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• Organisation internationale de la Francophonie
• United Nations
• World Trade Organization

This table shows the total populations of the countries, not the number of French speakers – most of these countries have a majority that do not speak French.

More information No., Country ...

No.	Country	Continent	Population[10]
1.	Democratic Republic of the Congo	Africa	115,403,027
2.	France	Europe	68,374,591
3.	Canada	North America	38,794,813
4	Cameroon	Africa	30,966,105
5.	Côte d'Ivoire	Africa	29,981,758
6.	Madagascar	Africa	29,452,714
7.	Chad	Africa	19,093,595
8.	Senegal	Africa	18,847,519
9.	Benin	Africa	14,697,052
10.	Guinea	Africa	13,986,179
11.	Rwanda	Africa	13,623,302
12.	Burundi	Africa	13,590,102
13.	Belgium	Europe	11,977,634
14.	Haiti	North America	11,753,943
15.	Togo	Africa	8,917,994
16.	Switzerland	Europe	8,860,574
17.	Republic of the Congo	Africa	6,097,665
18.	Central African Republic	Africa	5,650,957
19.	Gabon	Africa	2,455,105
20.	Equatorial Guinea	Africa	1,795,834
21.	Djibouti	Africa	994,974
22.	Comoros	Africa	900,141
23.	Luxembourg	Europe	671,254
24.	Vanuatu	Oceania	318,007
25.	Seychelles	Africa	98,187
26.	Monaco	Europe	31,813
Total	All countries	World	c. 467,334,839

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More information Nr., Entity ...

Nr.	Entity	Continent	Population[10]	Status
1.	New Caledonia	Oceania	304,167	Collectivity of France with special status
2.	French Polynesia	Oceania	303,540	Overseas collectivity of France
3.	Saint Martin	North America	32,996
4.	Wallis and Futuna	Oceania	15,964
5.	Saint Barthélemy	North America	10,660
6.	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	North America	5,819
7.	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	Africa, Antarctica	400
8.	Clipperton Island	North America	0

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Note: Réunion, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and Mayotte are classified as overseas departments and regions of France and are thus not a part of this list. While not de jure official, the U.S. states of Louisiana and Maine recognize the usage of French in law, governance, and commerce and allow state services and publicly funded education in the language, rendering it de facto official alongside English.^[11][8]

While French is not an official language in these countries, it is widely used in administration and many professional sectors, as well as being highly influential as a cultural language in the local society and has certain privileges in the education system.

More information Country, Continent ...

Country	Continent	Population (2023)[12]	Usage of French
Algeria	Africa	44,758,398	Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language[13]
Burkina Faso	Africa	22,489,126	Administrative, commercial, educational[14]
Cambodia	Asia	16,891,245	Administrative (particularly judicial and diplomacy), cultural, some educational[15][16]
Laos	Asia	7,852,377	Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational[17]
Lebanon	Asia	5,331,203	De jure second language[6]
Mali	Africa	21,359,722	Administrative, commercial, educational[18][19]
Mauritania	Africa	4,244,878	De facto second official language, educational[20]
Mauritius	Africa	1,309,448	Administrative (de facto official), cultural, educational[9]
Morocco	Africa	37,067,420	Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language[21][22]
Niger	Africa	26,342,784	Administrative, commercial, educational[23]
Tunisia	Africa	11,976,182	Administrative, commercial, cultural, educational, de facto official language[24]
Vietnam	Asia	99,460,000	Administrative (diplomatic), cultural, some educational, working language in medicine, science, and law[25][26]

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• Francophonie
• Geographical distribution of French speakers
• List of international organisations which have French as an official language
• French-based creole languages
• Geolinguistics
• Language geography