Data brief
Asia in 2026
Population and functional language-use estimates for 50 country-level entries — 138 language cells, 129 from one common layer and 9 individually attributed.
The short answer
Asia in 2026 is not a set of monolingual states. Population is concentrated in two entries — China and India together account for nearly three-fifths of the continent — while most countries here routinely operate in more than one language.
India and China together account for about 58% of the population across all fifty entries. The full table follows.
This page carries the full underlying table for every region, which a social post cannot. Population figures follow a single UN series so that entries are comparable with each other. Language figures estimate the share able to use or speak a language, so they include second-language use and can exceed 100% when added together.
Where the language figures come from. 129 of the 138 cells come from Unicode CLDR 49, used as a single common layer so that entries are drawn from one place rather than assembled country by country. CLDR's own figures are approximate and rest on underlying sources that vary in age and method, so this is a common layer — not a uniform measurement. The remaining 9, marked †, name their publisher individually. Estimates are shown with ≈ or as a bound such as <0.1%, and are rounded.
What was withdrawn. An external source audit on 1 August 2026 found twelve further language cells whose cited source did not establish the figure, or rested on evidence too weak for a brief of this kind. They have been removed rather than restated, and the affected entries — the Koreas, Palestine and four Gulf states — now show only their common-layer figures. The corrections log records the change.
East Asia & Russia
| Language use (estimated) | ||
|---|---|---|
| China | 1,412.9M | Chinese/Mandarin ≈90% · Wu Chinese ≈6% · Cantonese ≈5% |
| Russia | 143.4M | Russian ≈99% · English ≈4% · Tatar ≈2% |
| Japan | 122.4M | Japanese ≈95% · English ≈10% Japan — English ≈10% Asian Englishes (peer-reviewed), 2023 doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2023.2191410 · Ryukyuan ≈0.8% |
| South Korea | 51.6M | Korean ≈100% · English ≈20% South Korea — English ≈20% Asian Englishes (peer-reviewed), 2023 doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2023.2191410 |
| North Korea | 26.6M | Korean ≈88% |
| Taiwan | 23.0M | Mandarin ≈95% · Taiwanese/Hokkien ≈57% · Hakka ≈11% |
| Mongolia | 3.6M | Mongolian ≈93% · Kazakh ≈7% · Chinese ≈1% |
Southeast Asia
| Language use (estimated) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | 287.9M | Indonesian ≈64% · Javanese ≈34% · Sundanese ≈12% |
| Philippines | 117.7M | English ≈64% · Filipino ≈60% · Cebuano ≈24% |
| Vietnam | 102.2M | Vietnamese ≈86% · Hmong ≈1.4% · Chinese ≈1.1% |
| Thailand | 71.6M | Thai ≈80% · English ≈27% · Isan ≈24% |
| Myanmar | 55.2M | Burmese ≈64% · Shan ≈6% · Kachin ≈2% |
| Malaysia | 36.4M | Malay ≈75% · English ≈21% · Chinese ≈17% |
| Cambodia | 18.1M | Khmer ≈89% · Western Cham ≈1.6% · Kuy ≈0.1% |
| Laos | 8.0M | Lao ≈69% · Khmu ≈6% · Hmong ≈3% |
| Singapore | 5.9M | English ≈80% · Chinese ≈62% · Malay ≈19% |
| Timor-Leste | 1.4M | Tetum ≈92% Timor-Leste — Tetum ≈92% Timor-Leste 2015 Census — Education Monograph portal.municipio.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Education-Mo… · Indonesian ≈62% Timor-Leste — Indonesian ≈62% Timor-Leste 2015 Census — Education Monograph portal.municipio.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Education-Mo… · Portuguese ≈61% Timor-Leste — Portuguese ≈61% Timor-Leste 2015 Census — Education Monograph portal.municipio.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Education-Mo… |
| Brunei | 0.47M | Malay ≈93% · Chinese ≈11% · English ≈2% |
South Asia
| Language use (estimated) | ||
|---|---|---|
| India | 1,476.6M | Hindi ≈41% · English ≈19% · Bangla ≈8% |
| Pakistan | 259.3M | Urdu ≈95% · Punjabi ≈70% · English ≈50% |
| Bangladesh | 177.8M | Bangla ≈98% · English ≈18% · Rangpuri ≈7% |
| Afghanistan | 45.0M | Persian/Dari ≈50% · Pashto ≈43% · Hazaragi ≈6% |
| Nepal | 29.6M | Nepali ≈44% · Maithili ≈11% · Bhojpuri ≈7% |
| Sri Lanka | 23.3M | Sinhala ≈68% · Tamil ≈15% · English ≈10% |
| Bhutan | 0.80M | Dzongkha ≈47% · Nepali ≈17% · Tshangla ≈15% |
| Maldives | 0.53M | Dhivehi ≈98% · English ≈75% · Bengali ≈16% Maldives — Bengali ≈16% Maldives Bureau of Statistics — census census.gov.mv/2022/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Migration-Census-… |
Central Asia & Caucasus
| Language use (estimated) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Uzbekistan | 37.7M | Uzbek ≈85% · Russian ≈14% · Karakalpak ≈2% |
| Kazakhstan | 21.1M | Russian ≈72% · Kazakh ≈64% · English ≈15% |
| Tajikistan | 11.0M | Tajik ≈100% · Russian ≈12% · Uzbek ≈12% Tajikistan — Uzbek ≈12% CIA World Factbook (community mirror) github.com/taruen/factbook.json/blob/783ed27f7a1116663c10e7b39d… |
| Azerbaijan | 10.5M | Azeri ≈89% · Talysh ≈10% · Kurdish <1% |
| Turkmenistan | 7.7M | Turkmen ≈70% · Russian ≈12% · Uzbek ≈9% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 7.4M | Kyrgyz ≈48% · Russian ≈36% · Uzbek ≈14% Kyrgyzstan — Uzbek ≈14% CIA World Factbook (community mirror) github.com/taruen/factbook.json/blob/783ed27f7a1116663c10e7b39d… |
| Georgia | 3.8M | Georgian ≈86% · Mingrelian ≈11% · Russian ≈9% |
| Armenia | 2.9M | Armenian ≈99% · Russian ≈65% · Kurdish ≈3% |
West Asia I
| Language use (estimated) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Iran | 93.2M | Persian ≈75% · Azeri ≈24% · Mazanderani ≈5% |
| Turkey | 87.9M | Turkish ≈93% · English ≈17% · Kurdish ≈6% |
| Iraq | 48.0M | Arabic ≈68% · English ≈35% · Kurdish ≈12% |
| Yemen | 43.0M | Arabic ≈74% · English ≈9% · Mehri ≈0.4% Yemen — Mehri ≈0.4% Den Store Danske (encyclopaedia) lex.dk/mehri |
| Saudi Arabia | 35.2M | Arabic ≈100% |
| Syria | 26.5M | Arabic ≈85% · Kurdish ≈8% · French ≈6% |
| Jordan | 11.6M | Arabic ≈100% · English ≈45% · Adyghe ≈1% |
| Israel | 9.6M | Hebrew ≈100% · English ≈85% · Arabic ≈20% |
| Lebanon | 5.9M | Arabic ≈100% · English ≈40% · French ≈38% |
| Palestine | 5.7M | Arabic ≈100% |
West Asia II & Gulf
| Language use (estimated) | ||
|---|---|---|
| United Arab Emirates | 11.6M | Arabic ≈78% · English ≈50% · Malayalam ≈7% |
| Oman | 5.7M | Arabic ≈81% · Baluchi ≈5% · Persian ≈1% |
| Kuwait | 5.1M | Arabic ≈100% |
| Qatar | 3.2M | Arabic ≈89% · Persian ≈11% |
| Bahrain | 1.7M | Arabic ≈87% |
| Cyprus | 1.38M | Greek ≈95% · English ≈73% · Turkish ≈23% |
How to read this
- Rows sort by population within each region.
- Regional groupings are editorial. Taiwan and all of Russia are included deliberately.
- Language figures estimate functional use — including second-language use — not mother tongue, and are not a strict ranking.
- † marks a cell drawn from a supplementary source rather than the common CLDR layer.
- Figures are rounded for reading, not for calculation.
Download the full table (CSV) 138 rows — one per language cell, each with its country, population and named source.
Funding and competing interests
This brief was produced without external funding, commission or sponsorship. No organisation named in it, and no publisher of any source cited in it, reviewed it before publication or has any relationship with East Asian Journal. It contains no affiliate links. The publication's general position is on the disclosures page.
Sources
- UN DESA, World Population Prospects 2024 — medium variant, midyear 2026 estimates. population.un.org/wpp
- Unicode CLDR 49, territory–language information — the common layer for 129 of 138 language cells. unicode.org/cldr
- Disclosed supplementary sources for the 9 cells marked †, used where CLDR carries no usable entry.
Found an error? Corrections are logged publicly on the corrections page rather than edited silently.