Students of Spanish as a foreign language around the world have grown almost eleven percent since 2018

Students of Spanish as a foreign language have increased almost eleven percent since 2018, reaching 24,208,813 students around the world learning this language at different educational levels, whether in primary, secondary and university education, in non-regulated teaching spaces (academies or language centers) or in the different headquarters of the Cervantes Institute.

The academic institution has taken as a reference the figure of 21,815,280 students collected in ‘Spanish in the world. Cervantes Institute Yearbook 2018’.

However, he adds that the documentary and statistical situation of the language learning sector is very limited throughout the world and makes invisible a group of learners who, in other editions of the Cervantes annual report, have been estimated at more than five million.

In this way, the increase in the use of digital spaces for foreign language learning, from online courses to applications for mobile devices, could point to even higher estimates.

Regarding the total volume of students, the data reveal that the majority of Spanish language learners reside mainly in the United States, with more than 8.5 million students; the European Union with about 6.5 million; and Brazil, with just over four million.

Likewise, the rapid growth in the number of students in formal education in sub-Saharan African countries such as, for example, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin or Gabon, also stands out.

Taking into consideration the groups of Spanish speakers that are most numerous in themselves and most important in relation to the total population of the country, the cases of Canada stand out (which with 296,730 speakers has experienced an increase of 72% since 2018) and Switzerland (which with 89,970 Spanish speakers, it has also grown by 72 percent in the same period).

Furthermore, in absolute terms, the country with the largest number of native Spanish speakers, without this being an official language, is notably the United States (with almost 42 million people). For its part, the European Union as a whole has a number of 1.3 million people.

RUSSIA, POLAND AND THE UNITED KINGDOM, THOSE WHO GROW THE MOST

The reports with figures broken down by students by level and type of teaching focus on countries with more than 30,000 Spanish students. Taking the above into account, the country with the highest percentage growth is Russia, which, according to available data, has gone from 32,067 registered students in 2019 (since there are no registered students in 2018) to 134,430 in 2024, which represents an increase of 319 %).

In Europe, the cases of Poland and the United Kingdom stand out. From 2018 to 2024, in Poland there has been a 218 percent increase in the number of students, while in the United Kingdom, the increase for the same period would be 292 percent.

In other areas of the world, the countries with the highest percentage increase in Spanish students in the requested period are Canada, in America (+ 76%); China, in Asia (+73%); or Senegal, in Africa, with an increase of 74 percent.

On the other hand, Russia, Turkey and India are the countries in which Spanish is not an official language that have presented the highest percentage increase in native-dominant speakers since 2018, although these are small groups for nations that have a very high population.

Thus, the growth of people who have achieved native proficiency in Spanish during this period in Russia is 864%, in Turkey it is 446% and in India it is 385%. This represents a total of 28,924, 5,460 and 4,855 people in this category in each country, respectively.