French is second with 29 countries, Arabic is third with 26 countries and Spanish is fourth with 21 countries, Portuguese is the official language of 10 countries and German is official in 6 . Some countries—like Australia, United Kingdom and the United States —have no official language recognized as such at national level.

An official language, also called state language, is a language given a special status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a country's official language refers to the language used in government (judiciary, legislature, administration).

English is the most common official language, with recognized status in 51 countries. Arabic, French, and Spanish are also widely recognized. An official language that is also an indigenous language is called endoglossic, one that is not indigenous is exoglossic.

National language: one that uniquely represents the national identity of a state, nation, and/or country and so designated by a country's government; some are technically minority languages (on this page a national language will be followed by parentheses that identify it as a national language status).