Linguistic demography

Estimating the number of speakers of a given language is not straightforward, and various estimates may diverge considerably. This is first of all due to the question of defining "language" vs. "dialect". Classification of macrolanguages like Arabic, Chinese or Hindi as a single language has cultural or political reasons rather than a basis in linguistics. The second difficulty is multilingualism, complicating the definition of "native language". Finally, in many countries, insufficient census data adds to the difficulties.

Demolinguistics is a branch of sociolinguistics observing linguistic trends as affected by population distribution and redistribution and by the status of societies.

Most spoken languages
The following table compares the estimates of Comrie (1998) and  Weber (1997) (number of native speakers in millions). Also given are the estimates of SIL Ethnologue (2005). Comparing estimates that do not date to the same year is problematic, already due to the 1.14% per year growth of world population (with significant regional differences).

This table shows that for the world's largest languages, it is impossible to give an estimate of the number of native speakers with a certainty better than 10% or so. Macrolanguages like Chinese, Hindustani or Arabic are particularly difficult to define, and estimates consequently show uncertainties of the order of 25%.

Literature

 * Johanna Nichols, Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time, University of Chicago Press (1992), ISBN 978-0226580562.
 * David I. Kertzer and Dominique Arel (eds.), Census and Indentiry : The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Language in National Censuses, ISBN 9780521808231.
 * Jacques Pohl, Demolinguistics and Language Problems (1972).
 * H. Kloss, G. McConnell (eds.), Linguistic Composition of the Nations of the World vol. 2, North America, Quebec (1974-1984).