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Spanish is an official language in 34 sovereign states and one dependent entity, totaling around 423 million people.

It is a de jure official language in Spain, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Equatorial Guinea.

It is a de facto official and national language in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Uruguay. That is, it is the main or only language of communication of the vast majority of the population; official documents are written chiefly or solely in that language; and it is spoken and taught in schools; yet, it is not established by legislation as an official language.

Puerto Rico is a dependent entity where Spanish is a de jure official language. Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the U.S. where Spanish and English are the official languages and Spanish is the primary language

Former official language

Spanish was removed as an official language of the Philippinesin 1973 and was removed from being a compulsory subject in 1987; on 8 August 2007,PresidentGloria Macapagal-Arroyoannounced that the Philippine government asked help from the Spanish Government in her plan to reintroduce the Spanish as a required subject in the Philippine school system. TheConstitution of the Philippinesstates that "Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis" and that the Constitution itself will be translated into Spanish. It is estimated that in 1996 there were 1,816,389 Spanish speakers in the Philippines.

Commonly used language

Spanish language is not official but holds a special status in several countries (in the education system, the media, and some official documents): Andorra,Gibraltarand theSahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Spanish is used for international commerce inBrazildue to being surrounded mostly by Spanish-speaking countries and Spanish is widely taught as a foreign language. Additionally, Spanish is by far the most studied foreign language in theUnited Statesand many important public documents are published in both English and Spanish. Spanish is also de facto official in the U.S. state ofNew Mexicoalong with English and is increasingly used alongside English nationwide in business and politics. With over 50 million native speakers and second language speakers, the United States now has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world after Mexico.

International organizations

Spanish is one of the official languages in such organizations as The United Nations Organization (UNO), The European Union (EU), The African Union (AU), The Latin American Parliament (LAP), The World Trade Organization (WTO), The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Interpol, FIFA, and some others.