The ABCs of AfricaMarket For Investors.™ (Part 2)

Africa Map by Official Language

Figure 1: Africa Map by Official/Colonial Language

How Many Official (or Colonial) Languages does Africa Speak?

Africa Speaks 7 Main Official (or Colonial) Languages:

1.) English Language (Purple shade on Visual Chart Figure. 1)

2.) French Language (Blue shade on Visual Chart Figure. 1)

3.) Portuguese (Orange shade on Visual Chart Figure. 1)

4.) Spanish (Red shade on Visual Chart Figure. 1)

5.) German (Grey shade on Visual Chart Figure. 1)

6.) Italian (Pink shade on Visual Chart Figure. 1)

7.) Arabic (Yellow shade on Visual Chart Figure. 1)

Of the 1.3 billion People Currently Resident in Africa, How Many Speak Per Official/Colonial Language?

Here (below) are the approximated estimates from our research of how many people in Africa speak what specific official/colonial language

Figure 2 How many people in Africa speak English & French as official/colonial language

Figure 2: How many people in Africa speak Portuguese & Spanish as official/colonial language

Figure 2: How many people in Africa speak German as official/colonial language

Figure 2: How many people in Africa speak Italian as official/colonial language

N. B.

There are 54 countries in Africa and some of these countries speak at least 2 or 3 or 4 of all 7 official/colonial languages.

For example, as depicted and color-coded on Figure 1. (above) with countries like Cameroon and Mauritius (which speak both French and English); Egypt which is trilingual (with English-dominant, French and Arabic); and Libya which is quad-lingual (Italian, French, English and Arabic).

And, you might have noticed on Figure 2. (above) that although 21 countries in Africa speak French as primary/dominant official language, a total of 29 countries in Africa actually speak French.

And that this is more than 24 countries with English as dominant official/colonial Language.

Therefore, why the pervasive confusion or popular belief that Africa speaks mostly English than French as official/colonial language?

True. Comparatively according to both Figure 3, 4 and 5 (below), slightly more countries speak French than English as official/colonial language in Africa.

This means, you’ll randomly end up in a French-speaking country in Africa that an English-speaking one.

But, why the confusion and popular belief given that the data depicted on Figure 3, 4 and 5(below) shows the French language trumps English?

Figure 3: Number of Countries in Africa speaking English Vs Number of Countries speaking French or none of both

Figure 4: Number of Countries that have French as dominant official/colonial language

Figure 5: Number of Countries that have English as dominant official/colonial language

Both Figure 4. and Figure 5.(above) are further breakdown of Figure 3.(above)

Conclusion: Rule of Thumb Against the Confusion

This simple quotient can help you. Always remember that the number of English speakers in Africa has stayed at an 18%; that is nearly twice the number of people who speak French which has roughly remained at a 10%.

Why?

Because, 6 of the 10 most populous countries in Africa have English as their official/colonial language. In contrast to just 1 (The Democratic Republic of the Congo) which has French as its official/colonial language.

See Figure 6. Chart (below), to further understand this.

Figure 6 Chart showing 2017 estimates of more English-speaking Africans than French-speaking

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