English Language Countries by Continent, Official and De Facto

Here is a list of countries where English is either an official language or the de facto language (commonly used, but not declared official). Can a language be both official and de facto? Well, we don’t think so but many sites list English as a “de facto official” language of New Zealand. However, here is a bill that was submitted to the New Zealand Parliament in Feb. 2018 in an effort to have English declared an official language, so until we can find out what happened to the bill, we are listing it as de facto for New Zealand.

AFRICA

Official:
Botswana, Burundi
Cameroon
Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
(The) Gambia, Ghana
Kenya
Lesotho, Liberia
Malawi, Mauritius
Namibia, Nigeria
Rwanda
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan
Tanzania
Uganda
Zambia, Zimbabwe

DeFacto
Eritrea, Ethiopia

ASIA

Official
India
Pakistan, Philippines
Singapore

De Facto
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar
Qatar
Sri Lanka
United Arab Emirates

EUROPE

Official
Ireland
Malta

De Facto
Cyprus
United Kingdom

NORTH AMERICA

Official:
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda
Canada (except Quebec)
Dominica
Grenada
Jamaica
St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago

De Facto
United States