The United States becomes the second country with the most Spanish speakers in the world.

The United States, with a Spanish-speaking population that now exceeds 57.4 million, has surpassed Colombia and is now the second country with the highest number of Spanish speakers, right after Mexico.

This is indicated in the report "Spanish: A Living Language 2024," prepared by Professor David Fernández from the University of Alcalá and published by the Instituto Cervantes, which is responsible for the international promotion of the Spanish language.

For the past five years, it has been known that the use of Spanish is growing strongest in the United States, thanks to the country's Latino community and increasing migration.

According to CNN, Mexico has around 132 million people who communicate in Spanish, ahead of the United States, Colombia (52.6 million), Spain (48 million), Argentina (47 million), Venezuela (34 million), Peru (34 million), Chile (20 million), Ecuador (17 million), and Guatemala (17 million), always using rounded figures.

Likewise, Bolivia has 12, Cuba and the Dominican Republic around 11 each, followed by Honduras (10), with over seven million for both Paraguay and Nicaragua; El Salvador (6), Costa Rica (5), Panama (4.5), nearly 3 for both Uruguay and Puerto Rico, and around 1.5 in Equatorial Guinea.

The study highlights that, for the first time, the number of Spanish speakers worldwide has exceeded 600 million, a figure that confirms Spanish as the second most prominent language in terms of native speakers and the fourth when considering those who speak it as a second language or foreign language.

Approximately 7.2 percent of the global population communicates in this language, although with varying levels of proficiency.

Fernández, a doctor in Spanish Language and Literature who worked for 15 years on the annual project at the Instituto Cervantes, indicates that the research introduces changes in the classification of native and non-native speakers.

These variations are based on studies that consider the influence of Spanish in countries such as the United States and the European Union, as well as the way language learners are counted globally.

The rise of Spanish teaching in Europe is one of the highlights in the report, which reveals how the language has gradually overtaken French as the second most sought-after foreign language in most educational levels. However, in Brazil, the language has weakened due to the removal of mandatory language instruction in schools.

On the other hand, Spanish is facing a decline in higher education in the United States, where the number of students has decreased in recent years. This drop could extend to other educational levels and limit its growth in one of the leading nations of Spanish speakers.

Future of the Hispanic Community and Demographic Projections

UN population projections moderate the expected growth of Spanish speakers. The peak number of Spanish speakers is anticipated to be reached in 2066, at 682 million. From that point on, the number is expected to gradually decline until the end of the century, placing the Spanish-speaking community at 6.3 percent of the global population by 2100.

However, the report estimates that the decline in native speakers will be partially offset by the increase in people adopting it as a second language, especially in the United States, a country that is increasingly welcoming a larger population of Spanish speakers and may continue to expand its base of Spanish users in a multilingual context.