by Ciara Gillan
Updated on January 10, 2024
How many people really speak Russian?
Did you know that Russian is the seventh most spoken language in the world? With roots in the prehistoric Indo-European migration of the late Neolithic era, the evolution of the language is a lengthy one. Drawing from the Eurasia nations and greatly impacted by the Balto-Slavic languages, Russian has evolved to great prominence as a language, one which is spoken the world over today.
According to the 2019 edition of Ethnologue, an American-produced language reference guide, there are approximately 258 million Russian speakers worldwide. 153.6 million of those speak Russian as a first language, helping to rank it as number seven in the world. 104.3 million speak Russian as a second language. Altogether, this makes Russian the eight most spoken language in the world by total number of speakers.
It is the official language of Russia, of course, as well as several other states, including Belarus, Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan. It is considered the unofficial lingua franca in Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine and many other former Soviet countries. There are approximately 144 million people speaking Russian in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
Due to the extensive reach and lengthy existence of the Soviet Union, the language has greatly impacted many eastern European countries. In fact, Russia was the official language of the union right up until its dissolution in 1991. Russian is still used in official capacity and public life in many post Soviet Union nation states, however, countries like Latvia and Ukraine are moving towards reducing the presence of Russian in their everyday lives.
With that said, the East Slavic language is still widely used throughout eastern Europe, the Baltic States, the Caucasus and Central Asia. And many Russian speakers can be found today in countries like the US, Israel and Mongolia. There is even said to be a noteworthy number of people speaking Russian in Finland, Hungary and Cyprus.
If you’d like to learn more about the language, first learn about the culture. Great composers such as Tchaikovsky can tickle your ears with renowned Russian classics. Then you can dive into a trove of fantastic writers. From Tolstoy to Dostoevsky you will spend many days and nights enjoying the words of Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment, an historical insight into Russian culture. Of course once you’re ready to try and master this complex language, these books in their original tongue will be a great help.
