English has become the world’s default bridge language, spoken by billions of people who never grew up hearing it at home. While the United States and the United Kingdom often dominate the conversation about English speakers, the real story of the language’s global reach lies elsewhere. About 1.14 billion people speak English as a second language worldwide, meaning almost 75% of all English speakers learned it as a second language.
That statistic points to a handful of countries doing the heavy lifting. From South Asia to West Africa to continental Europe, these nations have built enormous populations of non-native English users through colonial history, education policy, media exposure, or straightforward economic necessity. Here is a closer look at six countries where English as a second language is spoken by the largest numbers of people, based on the most reliable population and proficiency data available.
1. India
India is, by almost any measure, home to the single largest population of second-language English speakers on the planet. Estimates vary due to differing definitions of proficiency, with India’s figures ranging from 129 million proficient speakers to 265 million including basic users. That wide range reflects how tricky it is to count fluency across a country of more than a billion people speaking dozens of native tongues. Even at the more conservative end of these estimates, no other country comes close in sheer volume.
What makes India’s case distinctive is how deeply English is woven into public life without being anyone’s mother tongue. Although English is not the first language for most Indians, it is widely used in higher education, government administration, technology, and business communication. This layered use of English, alongside Hindi and regional languages, has turned the country into a global hub for IT services and English-language education exports, reinforcing its position at the very top of this list.
2. Pakistan
Pakistan sits just behind India in terms of raw numbers, and the two countries share a similar colonial linguistic legacy. According to Ethnologue data, as of 2025 the United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 319 million and 276 million respectively, followed by Pakistan at 112 million. That places Pakistan comfortably among the largest second-language English populations anywhere in the world, trailing only a small handful of countries with far bigger overall populations.
Local reporting backs up this scale. One report noted that English was deeply penetrated into Pakistani society, claiming that 49 percent of the population, or 88.69 million people, could speak English. The language functions as a co-official tongue alongside Urdu, dominating higher education, courts, and much of the federal bureaucracy even though it remains a learned second language for the overwhelming majority of citizens rather than something absorbed at home.
3. Nigeria
Nigeria is Africa’s clearest example of a nation transformed by English as a second language on a massive scale. Nigeria is the largest English-speaking country in Africa, with English acting as a common language across the country’s diverse linguistic groups and being used in education and government institutions. With more than 500 indigenous languages spoken across the country, English serves as the practical glue holding national communication together, from classrooms in Lagos to federal offices in Abuja.
Population estimates for Nigerian English speakers vary considerably depending on methodology, with some counts putting the country’s total speakers at around 125 million, where English functions as an official language amid linguistic diversity. Whichever figure proves most accurate, Nigeria’s sheer population size, now well over 200 million people, guarantees it a place among the countries with the largest second-language English communities anywhere on earth.
4. Philippines
Few countries have turned English proficiency into as visible an economic asset as the Philippines. English is co-official alongside Filipino, and the Philippines rounds out the top five countries by total English speakers with around 70 million speakers, where English is integral to public life. Schools teach heavily in English from an early age, and the language appears constantly in media, signage, and everyday professional settings across the archipelago.
This widespread second-language fluency has reshaped entire industries. The country’s strong language skills have aided its economy and even pushed the Philippines over India as the world’s top voice outsourcing destination in 2012. Call centers, business process outsourcing firms, and remote work platforms continue to rely on this deep pool of English-speaking talent, making the Philippines one of the most commercially significant ESL nations in the world.
5. Germany
Germany represents Europe’s biggest contribution to the global second-language English count, simply by virtue of its large population combined with strong educational outcomes. Surveys of European adults found that over 50% of adults in Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Germany claimed to be able to converse in English as a foreign language, a notable figure given Germany’s population of roughly 84 million people. That share translates into tens of millions of German residents who can hold a conversation in English despite growing up speaking German at home.
Germany’s more recent EF English Proficiency Index scores reinforce this picture of strength. In the 2025 rankings the Netherlands remained number one, followed by Croatia and Austria, while Germany climbed to fourth place with one of the biggest gains in Europe. Combined with its large population, that ranking cements Germany as one of the countries where English functions widely, confidently, and at scale as a second language rather than a niche skill.
6. South Africa
South Africa offers a somewhat different model than the other countries on this list, since English coexists with eleven other official languages while still functioning as the primary language of business, higher education, and much of government. Regional estimates suggest South Africa has around 16 million people who speak English, a large share of whom use it as an additional rather than a first language across the country’s diverse population groups.
South Africa’s proficiency scores back up this widespread secondary use. In the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index, South Africa and Zimbabwe tied for first in Africa, both ranking thirteenth globally with a score of 602 in the Very High proficiency band. That places South Africa among the strongest performers anywhere in the world, non-native or native, and confirms its position as one of the six countries where English truly thrives as a second language.
Ranking these six countries side by side shows just how differently English has taken root outside its native-speaking heartlands. In South Asia and Africa, the language often survives as a colonial inheritance turned practical necessity, binding together nations with dozens of competing mother tongues. In Europe, it tends to arrive through strong education systems and sheer economic pragmatism rather than history alone.
What ties India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Germany, and South Africa together is scale. Each has built, through very different paths, one of the largest communities of non-native English speakers found anywhere on the planet. As global trade, technology, and education keep leaning on English as their working language, these six nations look set to remain at the center of that story for years to come.
