World Arabic Language Day 2025: Top 7 countries with largest Arabic speakers
Arabic is spoken by appx. 400 million people who speak it daily. The UN started to celebrate the World Arabic Language Day on December 18, 2024, to celebrate not only a language, but also its role in science, architecture, poetry, philosophy and song.
Egypt
Egypt has the largest population of Arabic speakers, with approximately 82.44 million people speaking Arabic. Its capital, Cairo, has been the historic, cultural, and educational centre of Arabic. Egypt shifted from ancient Coptic to Arabic after the 7th-century conquest.
Algeria
Algeria has appx. 40 million Arabic-speaking population. It has been the official language since 1963 and is central to national identity.
Sudan
Sudan is the hub of Arabic-speaking people in Africa, with approximately 28 million Arabic speakers. It also had a history of racial conflict between Arab and indigenous Sudanese. Most of the people speak a local dialect called Sudanese Arabic.
Saudi Arabia
It is considered the birthplace of the Arabic language, with appx. 27 million Arabic speakers. It possesses speakers of diverse dialects of the Arabic language and is the global hub for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is used for all official government business, religious sermons, and educational curriculum.
Morocco
Morocco has appx. 25 million Arabic speakers and uses both Arabic and Tamazight as official languages. The most spoken dialect is Darija; however, Modern Standard Arabic is used for official and educational curriculum.
Iraq
Iraq has almost 23 million Arabic speakers. The official languages of Iraq is both Arabic and Kurdish, and Mesopotamian Arabic is the vernacular language.
Syria
Almost 18 million people in Syria speak the Syrian dialect Levantine Dialect of the Arabic language. It is also considered the most musical dialect of the Arabic language.
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