Arabic-Speaking Countries: Where Is Arabic an Official Language?

What Countries Speak Arabic? Find Out Where in the World Arabic Can Take You!

Arabic is the official language in 25 different countries in northern Africa and the Middle East. About 274 million people speak it as a first or second language.

This is why Arabic is considered the 5th most-spoken language in the world after English, Chinese, Hindi, and Spanish. If you’re interested in learning Arabic, you’re not alone!

But where is Arabic spoken, exactly? Let’s start with the countries where Arabic is an official language. These can be grouped into two categories, as illustrated on the map below:

• countries where Arabic is the only official language
• countries where Arabic shares official language status with other languages

Yes! History, culture, and different migratory events shape the linguistic landscape of every country.

Just like English is the sole official language in Jamaica and Nigeria, to name a couple, it is also a co-official language in many other places like Canada, Singapore, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and many others.

When more than one language shares the status of “official language,” they are often the maternal languages of a part of the population, but sometimes are simply learned by a large portion of people or even recognized as official for historic or political reasons, even if they are only used by a small group.

Arabic-speaking countries: Where is Arabic the only official language?

Here’s a list of all of the places that feature on the map of Arabic-speaking countries above.

Let’s start with the 15 Arabic-speaking countries where it is the only official language:

1. Mauritania
2. Tunisia
3. Libya
4. Egypt
5. Lebanon
6. Jordan
7. Syria
8. Saudi Arabia
9. Kuwait
10. Qatar
11. United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)
12. Oman
13. Yemen
14. Palestine
15. Bahrain

Arabic-speaking countries: 10 countries where Arabic is one of multiple official languages

In these 10 countries, Arabic shares official status with another language:

1. Algeria
2. Morocco
3. Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara)
4. Sudan
5. Chad
6. Somalia
7. Eritrea
8. Djibouti
9. The Comoros
10. Iraq

It’s important to note that, in all of these Arabic-speaking countries, the official form is always Modern Standard Arabic. But Arabic is actually a macro language that encompasses several variants known as Arabic dialects.

There are also many other languages spoken in the various Arabic-speaking countries in Africa and the Middle East. Here are a few examples:

• • • Tamazight (Algeria)
    • Amazigh (Morocco)
    • Spanish (Western Sahara)
    • English (Sudan)
    • French (Chad, Djibouti, Comoros)
    • Somali (Somalia)
    • Tigrinya and English (Eritrea)
    • Comorian (Comoros)
    • Kurdish (Iraq)

A Closer Look at the Arabic-Speaking Countries

Check out the table below to get a better idea of the demographics in the countries that speak Arabic, and just how many people speak Arabic in each place.

Arabic: A Language that Transcends Borders

In addition to the many countries already mentioned where Arabic is listed as the/an official language, there are many, many more where a significant portion of the population speaks Arabic as a maternal or a second language.

There are about 3 million Arabic speakers in France, for instance. And about 1.4 million in the United States. In the US, Arabic is the seventh most-spoken language that is not English.

MosaLingua and Arabic

As you can see, Arabic is an international language. That’s why we’re working on developing a Modern Standard Arabic app for MosaLingua. We want anyone with an interest in it to have access to a super efficient learning tool!

Arabic was a clear favorite in our recent poll, and it’s a very important tool for traveling, working, or simply communicating in the 25 Arabic-speaking countries around the world.

Many of these countries have important economic, touristic, and cultural interests. Who hasn’t dreamed of visiting the Pyramids of Giza, exploring the ancient stone city of Petra in Jordan, or experiencing the grandeur of Dubai? Being able to speak Arabic would make any of these adventures even more magical!