At first, the language barrier can be a barrier. A poor command of English or an incomplete understanding of Spanish is likely to prevent travelers from visiting certain destinations. Fortunately, French, spoken by 321 million speakers worldwide, makes it possible to be understood on five continents, from Quebec to French Polynesia or from French-speaking Switzerland to the Seychelles. With accents, variants and local expressions in each country, all the flavor and richness of Moliere’s language, the fifth most spoken language on the planet.
If, of course, we could bet with our eyes closed that Paris is the most French-speaking city in the world, then this is no longer the case since 2016. Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa, whose “built-up urban zone” (see the exact definition at the end of the article) has a population of 12.83 million, according to the 18th edition of the Demographia World Urban Areas report, compiled by demographers and urban planners from around the world. This Central African country, also called Congo-Kinshasa (to distinguish it from the Republic of the Congo, without the “democratic” in Congo-Brazzaville), has 51% of its 90 million citizens who speak French every day, according to the International Organization for Standardization. Francophonie (OIF).
The rise of Africa
The Paris metropolitan area is now the second largest French-speaking region in the world, with 11 million inhabitants. Close behind, in third place, is Abidjan, the most populous city in Côte d’Ivoire. It is notably followed by Casablanca in Morocco and Dakar in Senegal, neck and neck with Montreal in the Canadian province of Quebec.
In these cities, French is the official language, or at least the language spoken and understood by the majority of its inhabitants. The figures below correspond to the estimated population, not the number of French speakers. Africa occupies a dominant position there due to the strong demographic growth of the continent. Which confirms OIF’s predictions that by 2050, 80% of French speakers will be African. French may then become the third most spoken language in the world.
The 15 most populated French-speaking cities in the world.
- Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo): 12.8 million
- Paris (France): 11 million
- Abidjan (Ivory Coast): 5.4 million
- Yaoundé (Cameroon): 4.6 million
- Casablanca (Morocco): 4.3 million
- Bamako (Mali): 4 million
- Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso): 3.8 million
- Algiers (Algeria): 3.7 million
- Dakar (Senegal): 3.7 million
- Montreal (Quebec, Canada): 3.7 million
- Mbuji-Mai (Democratic Republic of Congo): 3.6 million
- Douala (Cameroon): 3.6 million
- Port-au-Prince (Haiti): 3.1 million
- Conakry (Guinea): 2.9 million
- Beirut (Lebanon): 2.8 million
Source:Demographia World Urban Areas, 18th edition, July 2022.
Definition: By “Urban Development” the report means “continuous built-up development, which by definition excludes rural land– states one of its authors, the American urban planner Wendell Cox. It corresponds to “the city in its physical form, as opposed to metropolitan areas that are economic or functional cities (centres of employment and housing)“. For Paris, for example, the study considers the “urban unit” as defined by INSEE, which is a perimeter of 2,853 km² comprising 411 municipalities (i.e. a small part of the metropolitan area, which represents 1,929 municipalities and 18,941 km²).
Source: Le Figaro
