English-speaking world

Over two billion people speak English as of the 2000s, making English the largest
language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native
speakers.
The United States and the United Kingdom have the most native speakers, with 330
million and 67 million respectively. There are also 29 million in Canada, 25.7 million
in Australia, 5 million in New Zealand, and 5 million in Ireland. As of 2012, India claimed
to have the world's second-largest English-speaking population. When native and non-
native speakers are combined, English is the most widely spoken language worldwide.
England and the Scottish Lowlands, parts of the United Kingdom, are the birthplace of
the English language, and the modern form of the language has been being spread
around the world since the 17th century, first by the worldwide influence of the United
Kingdom, and more recently by that of the United States. Through all types of printed
and electronic media of these countries, English has become the leading language of
international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions and professional contexts
such as science, navigation and law. The United Kingdom remains the largest English-
speaking country in Europe.
Besides the major varieties of English, such as American English, British
English, Canadian English, Australian English, Irish English, New Zealand English, and
their sub-varieties, countries such as South Africa, India, Nigeria,
the Philippines, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago also have millions of native
speakers of dialect continua ranging from English-based creole languages to Standard
English. Other countries, such as Ghana and Uganda, also use English as their primary
official languages.

English is the primary natively spoken language in several countries and territories. Five
of the largest of these are sometimes described as the "core Anglosphere"; they are
the United States of America (with at least 231 million native English speakers),
the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million)  Australia (at least 17 million,
and New Zealand (4.8 million),
 English is also the primary natively spoken language in the Republic of
Ireland, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, The
Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint
Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. English is also
spoken by a majority of people as a second language in countries such
as Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Sweden.

English as a global language

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world
language", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in
most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language It is,
by international treaty, the official language for aeronautical and
maritime communications. English is one of the official languages of the United
Nations and many other international organizations, including the International Olympic
Committee. It is also one of two co-official languages for astronauts (besides the
Russian language) serving on board the International Space Station.
 English is studied most often in the European Union, In 2012, excluding native
speakers, 38 per cent of Europeans consider that they can speak English.
Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries
around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences
with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were
written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking
countries.
In publishing, English literature predominates considerably with 28 per cent of all books
published in the world and 30 per cent of web content in 2011 (down from 50 per cent in
2000).
This increasing use of the English language globally has had a large impact on many
other languages, leading to language shift and even language death, and to claims
of linguistic imperialism. English itself has become more open to language shift as
multiple regional varieties feed back into the language as a whole.