Spanish speakers will surpass in 2024, for the first time in history, the figure of 600 million, adding people with native domain (almost 500 million)those with limited competence (about 78 million) and students, more than 24 million.
This is clear from the 25th edition of the Instituto Cervantes yearbook Spanish in the world 2024presented this Wednesday by the director of the institution, Luis García Monteroand which confirms that the Spanish consolidates its influence in cinema, music and video games.
In the presentation, García Montero pointed out that the yearbook is “a reason for pride, but without complacency”in the midst of a “very difficult” situation worldwide.
“One morning we are preparing the evacuation of our staff in Beirut, another learning that staff in Tel Aviv have slept in a bomb shelter and another seeing the problems that arise in Moscow due to relations with the EU,” said García Montero to illustrate this complex scenario.
According to the yearbook, the community of Spanish speakers with native command of the language is close to 500 million (498,497,757 people), of which 100 million (99,080,295) are Spanish speakers outside of Hispanic countriesmainly due to their migratory background.
The yearbook notes an increase in Spanish students with 24 million learners, who are basically concentrated in the United States, EU and Brazil. Specifically, in the US, the number of students has risen from eight to nine million.
Karol G, first female artist heard in 2023
The yearbook, which is Cervantes’ main publication on language and culture, also reveals that Spanish remains the second mother tongue on the planetafter Mandarin Chinese.
Music consumption in Spanish rises 3.8% In 2023, a quarter of the songs on the hit lists of portals such as YouTube and Spotify They used Spanish. a year in which music consumption in English falls 3.8% the same as their consumption in Spanish increases.
In 2023 Karol G She was the first female artist to reach that position with her album Tomorrow will be nice. And Latin urban music has generated a kind of lingua franca and forms a pan-Latin unit of artists that already has its own label, the Latino Gang.
According to the yearbook, Spanish remains the second mother tongue on the planet, behind Mandarinand is reinforced as one of the main options for users of platforms such as Spotify and Netflix, as well as video game consumers.
‘The Snow Society’, the most viewed film
Spanish is the second language with the highest film production and also fiction series, behind English. In the case of cinema, the third would be the Hindi one and in series, the Korean one.
In 2024, The snow societyby Juan Antonio Bayonais positioned as the second most viewed non-English language film in the history of Netflix, cwith 94.9 million views.
Spanish has also improved the economic results of video games developed in Spanish-speaking countries, despite the fact that the industry tends to publish video games in English.
If a video game is developed entirely in Spanish, Its sales increase almost triple in Spanish-speaking countries.
The first Latin author to be translated, García Márquez
7% of the books published in the world are in Spanishwhich makes this language the sixth with the highest editorial production.
The weight of the Spanish language in the field of translation shows a high value and is in sixth place in the world for the language translated into another in the field of literature. but Spain is the third country that translates the most.
However, among the 50 most translated authors worldwide, only one Spanish-speaking writer appears: Gabriel García Márquez, in 49th place with 1,382 translations (Agatha Christie is in first place, with 7,236 translations.)
In Spanish-speaking countries, the proportion of speakers with native Spanish proficiency is 93.63% of the population.
Four new Cervantes Institutes in the world
Among Spanish-speaking countries, only Paraguay, Guatemala, Bolivia and Equatorial Guinea They have a proportion of native Spanish speakers of less than 85%.
However, there are differences. Ecuador, Venezuela and Guatemala are the Spanish-speaking countries with the lowest records in terms of Spanish proficiency among their indigenous population, with more than 20% of people who do not speak this language. In the case of Ecuador, the percentage reaches 34.2% of the indigenous population.
In addition, the yearbook includes the directory of the institution’s presence in the world, which has been expanded this year with the opening of four new extensions: Ankara (Turkey), Bagkok (Thailand), Río Piedras (Puerto Rico) and Virginia (USA), which places the Instituto Cervantes establishments in 103 cities in 51 countries, including Spain.