Portuguese is not only the official language of Portugal and Brazil, it is also the official language of Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bisseau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Equatorial Guinea, East Timor, Macau and Goa.

Based on the amount of native speakers, Portuguese is the 6th most spoken language in the world  (source: Accredited Language).  The language also plays an important role in non-Portuguese speaking countries. The British Council has identified our language as one of the most important ones for the UK’s future.

If  you know English, you also know at least 30 words in Portuguese! Check out our article about English-Portuguese cognates and improve your vocabulary!

Places where Portuguese is the official language

Brazil

Our country is by far the world’s largest Portuguese-speaking nation, with a population that exceeds 205 million Portuguese-speakers. Besides of being our official language, it has also served as the lingua franca among native Indians an ethnic groups in the nation.  It is spoken by over 99,5% of the population, followed by German dialects and other native languages.

The Portuguese spoken in Brazil differs from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal and its differences, exceeds the differences between British English and American English.

Portugal

Portuguese is spoken as a first language in Portugal by nearly all of the nation’s 10.6 million people.

Angola

Portuguese is the sole official language in Angola, around 90% of the population is proficient on it. Apart from this, the rest of the population mostly speaks native Bantu languages.

Mozambique

Portuguese is also the sole official language in Mozambique and it is the lingua franca between the ethnic groups over there. Around 70% of the population speaks it fluently and slightly over 40% of the population has it as mother tongue. The country receives several Portuguese and Brazilian TV stations over there.

Guinea-Bisseau

The country also has Portuguese as the sole language and it is believed that only 50% of the population speaks it. However, they use a Portuguese-creole in a daily basis (Kriol).

Cape Verde

Portuguese is the official language in the country, the majority of the population speak a Portuguese-creole (Cape Verdean creole) in a daily basis. Even though, most part of the population is also fluent in Portuguese and the media is available in European Portuguese.

São Tomé e Príncipe

95% of the population speaks Portuguese and a portuguese-based creole (Forro) is also commonly spoken over there.

Equatorial Guinea

Since 2007 Portuguese is the official language is the third official language in the country (after Spanish and French). Spanish continues to be the language spoken by the majority of the population (~90%).

East Timor

Tetum and Portuguese are the official languages in the country. Around 40% of the population is fluent in Portuguese.

Macau (China)

Macau is an administrative region of China and it has Portuguese as an official language along with Cantonese. 7% of the population is fluent in Portuguese and a Portuguese-based creole (Macaense Patuá) is commonly spoken over there.

Goa (India)

The Region of Goa was a Portuguese colony until 1961 and that’s why the language became the official one back then. Nowadays Portuguese is spoken by the elderly and educated populations.

Other countries

– In Japan, Portuguese is commonly spoken among migrant works from Brazil and returned immigrants, totalizing 500,000 Portuguese speakers in the country.

– In Malasya, a Portuguese-based creole (Cristão) is spoken between some of the Eurasian population.

– Large Portuguese communities are found in Zambia, South Africa, Namibia and Senegal, where Portuguese is taught as second language at school.

– There are 1.800.000 Portuguese speakers in the USA and Portuguese is spoken by over  730,000 people at home.

– In Venezuela and Guyana, there are communities of Portuguese immigrants (mostly Madeirans) and their descendants who speak Portuguese as their native language.