For the first time in 2024 Spanish speakers will exceed 600 million people worldwide, according to the new 2024 Annual Yearbook 'Español en el mundo' from the Cervantes Institute, presented yesterday.
This figure includes almost 500 million native speakers, in addition to those who have limited proficiency in the language (around 78 million) plus students of Spanish (24 million and growing).
In addition, the report highlights that it remains the second mother tongue on the planet, after Mandarin Chinese, and is consolidated as one of the main options for users of platforms such as Netflix or Spotify, as well as for consumers of video games.
For the director of Cervantes, Luis García Montero, these figures are “cause for pride, but they should not lead to complacency”. In this sense, he highlighted the “joy” that transmits the good health of Spanish “in a difficult situation for the world”, alluding to the problems of centers in places like Beirut, Tel Aviv or Moscow, while also mentioning the “difficult situation” today in the Valencian Community due to “the fury of the rain as it enters the Peninsula” and which has led the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, to cancel his participation in this event, as planned.
