The term francophone often refers to someone whose mother tongue is French but can also be applied for someone who speaks the language fluently and has another mother tongueThe adjective francophone means "French-speaking", typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. The word is also often used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person.

Who are francophones?

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This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language">French language </a>, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken.

French became an international language in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages">Middle Ages </a>, when the power of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_France">Kingdom of France </a>made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the language of European diplomacy and international relations.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_French_speakers#cite_note-1">[1] </a>

According to the 2022 report of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_internationale_de_la_Francophonie">Organisation internationale de la Francophonie </a>(OIF), 409 million people speak French.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_French_speakers#cite_note-2">[2] </a> 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 high-fertility African countries: of the 212 million who use French daily, 54.7% are living in Africa.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_French_speakers#cite_note-rtbf274-3">[3] </a> The OIF figures have been contested as being inflated due to the methodology used and its overly broad definition of the word francophone. According to the authors of a 2017 book on the world distribution of the French language, a credible estimate of the number of "francophones réels" (real francophones), that is, individuals who speak French on a daily basis either as their mother tongue or as a second language, would be around 130 million.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_French_speakers#cite_note-4">[4] </a>

The following figures are from a 2022 report of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organisation_internationale_de_la_Francophonie">Organisation internationale de la Francophonie </a>(OIF).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_French_speakers#cite_note-FOOTNOTEODSEF202231%E2%80%93161-6">[6] </a> No distinctions are made between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_language">native speakers </a>of French and those who learnt it as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_language">foreign language </a>, between different levels of mastery or how often the language is used in daily life.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_French_speakers#cite_note-chemins-7">[7] </a> For African countries where French is the main language of education, the number of French speakers is derived from the average number of schooling years.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_distribution_of_French_speakers#cite_note-chemins-7">[7] </a>

Geographical distribution of French speakers

Who are francophones?

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