Issues
Official English
Bilingual Education
English on the Job
Citizenship and
   Immigration
Bilingual Ballots
Puerto Rican
    Statehood
Ending E.O. 13166,
   the "Multilingual    Mandate"

Resources
Model official
   English statute
Backgrounders
Pending legislation
Census 2000 data
Myths & Facts
Poll Data

Contact us:
1601 N. Kent St.
Suite 1100
Arlington, VA
22209
ph: (703)816-8821

Official Languages Around the World

Countries with English as the sole official language

Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Botswana Dominica Fiji Gambia Ghana Grenada Guyana

Jamaica Kiribati Lesotho Liberia Marshall Islands Mauritius Fed. States of Micronesia Namibia New Zealand Nigeria

Papua New Guinea Sts. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sierra Leone Solomon Islands Trinidad and Tobago Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe

Other countries with English as an official language

Cameroon Canada Equatorial Guinea India* Ireland Kenya Madagascar

Malawi Malta Palau* Philippines Rwanda Seychelles Singapore

Sri Lanka Swaziland* Tonga Tuvalu United Republic of Tanzania United Kingdom* Vanuatu

Note: Palau, Swaziland, and the United Kingdom recognize English as the offficial language of their nations as a whole, but recognize regional official language. For instance, Manx is an official language of the Island of Man, within the United Kingdom.

Note: According to India's Constitution, the official language is Hindi. However, according to statory law, the official language is English. In practice, English is the language used by the national government, and for any communication between two or more Indian states when Hindi is not the official language of every state involved. Only a minority of states have made Hindi their official language.

Countries with one official language that is not English

Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Argentina Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Benin Bhutan Brazil Burkina Faso Cambodia Cape Verde Islands Central African Rep. China Congo, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Republic of Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Ecuador Egypt Estonia France Gabon Georgia Greece

Guinea Guinea-Bissau Honduras Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Italy Japan Jordan Kuwait Laos Latvia Libya Lebanon Liechtenstein Lithuania Macedonia Maldives Mali Mauritania Mauritius Moldova Monaco Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Nauru Nicaragua

Oman Panama Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Republic of Moldava Russia Saudi Arabia São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Serbia & Montenegro Slovakia Somalia Spain Sudan Suriname Syria Taiwan Togo Tunisia Turkey United Arab Emirates Ukraine Uzbekistan Vatican State Venezuela Vietnam Yemen

Countries with multiple official languages

Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Burundi Chad Comoros Croatia Cyprus Djibouti East Timor

Finland Haiti Kazakh Kyrgyzstan Luxembourg Madagascar Malaysia Netherlands Niger

Norway Paraguay Peru San Marino Switzerland Sweden Tajikistan Turkmenistan

Countries with no known official languages
Definitions for what constitute an official language vary from source to source and nation to nation; Many citizens of some of the nations below regard a particular language as their national language, but ProEnglish found no explicit statutory of constitutional establishment of an official language. ProEnglish does not mean to demean the status of any national language of any nation on this list.

Afghanistan* Australia Belarus Belgium Bulgaria Chile Colombia Cuba Czech Republic Denmark

Dominican Republic El Salvador Ethiopia Germany Guatemala Hungary Iceland Korea, North Korea, South Mexico

Myanmar Nepal Samoa Slovenia South Africa Thailand Tuvalu U.S. of America Uruguay

* In 2004, Afghanistan passed a new Constitution, which referenced the languages of Pashtu and Dari (elsewhere called Farsi, Parsi, or Persian). Sources conflict as to whether these references establish official languages.

Official English Resources
     Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich promotes official English
        (including .mp3 sound files of the Hon. Gingrich on language issues.)
    Ten Reasons Why We Should Make English the Official Language
    ProEnglish's draft official-English bill (for legislators seeking to introduce official English legislation)
    Official English news archive
    Member Dan Pak argues to Use English to Unite All Americans
    Our congressional testimony, concerning Executive Order 13166, 
           on providing access to people with Limited English Proficiency
           (a summary of our argument.)
     State profiles page, featuring an interactive map with demographics and official English laws
     State-by-state data showing the rapid increase in numbers of those who don't speak English.
     The 50 most common minority languages in America.
     53 other nations have made English their official language.
     The official status of languages in other nations.
     The most common languages in each of the states.
     Where in America other languages are spoken (ranked by number of speakers,
           or percentage of population which speaks that language.)
     Famous quotes concerning the need for our common language
     Petition endorsing English as an official language
     Sample resolution endorsing English as an official language
     

Legislation
    Federal legislation pending 
    Information on S. 1335, the S.I. Hayakawa Official English Act of 2007
    Information on HR 997, the Official Language Unity Act of 2007
    Information on HR 769, the National Language Act of 2007
    Information on HR 768, House bill to rescind EO 13166, concerning persons with Limited English
    Information on the Inhofe and Salazar amendments regarding English to the Senate immigration bill
    Research and contact your congressmen at our Legislative Action Center
    ProEnglish's draft official-English bill (for legislators seeking to introduce official English legislation)
    Link to Thomas, the Library of Congress' legislative database **