Per Capita Income Luxemburg has the highest per capita income ($55,100 in 2003), and East Timor has the lowest ($500 in 2001).
Refugees better off than Canadian Seniors A single refugee receives from the Canadian Government a monthly allowance of $1,890.00, plus $580.00 in social assistance, a total of $2,470.00.
But a Canadian single pensioner receives only a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age Security Income and Guaranteed Income Supplement.
The Canadian Government is treating refugees more favourably than the country's senior citizens. Is this fair?
Americans at age 65 or older. Today, about 13% of Americans, or 35 million people, are aged 65 and older. But between 2010 and 2030, this segment of the population is expected to swell to over 69 million, and one in five of us will be considered “elderly.” By 2050, the elderly population is projected to reach 79 million. (U.S. Census Bureau)
Deaths from HIV/AIDS South Africa has the most people who died of AIDS (370,000 in 2003), compared to Svalbard (0 in 2001).
Teen Pregnancy USA has the highest rate of teen pregnancy among the industrialized countries.
$17 billion spent on pet food a year in Europe and USA According to the UN, Americans and Europeans together spend $17 billion a year on pet food, $4 billion more than the estimated yearly additional amount needed to provide everyone in the world with basic health and nutrition.
Languages of the World
This entry provides a rank ordering of languages starting with the largest and sometimes includes the percent of total population speaking that language.
Pashtu 35%, Afghan Persian (Dari) 50%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%, much bilingualism
Albania:
Albanian (Tosk is the official dialect), Greek
Algeria:
Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects
American Samoa:
Samoan (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English
note:
most people are bilingual
Andorra:
Catalan (official), French, Castilian
Angola:
Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages
Anguilla:
English (official)
Antigua and Barbuda:
English (official), local dialects
Argentina:
Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French
Armenia:
Armenian 96%, Russian 2%, other 2%
Aruba:
Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English dialect), English (widely spoken), Spanish
Australia:
English, native languages
Austria:
German
Azerbaijan:
Azerbaijani (Azeri) 89%, Russian 3%, Armenian 2%, other 6% (1995 est.)
24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official)
Canada:
English 59.3% (official), French 23.2% (official), other 17.5%
Cape Verde:
Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words)
Cayman Islands:
English
Central African Republic:
French (official), Sangho (lingua franca and national language), Arabic, Hunsa, Swahili
Chad:
French (official), Arabic (official), Sara and Sango (in south), more than 100 different languages and dialects
Chile:
Spanish
China:
Standard Chinese or Mandarin (Putonghua, based on the Beijing dialect), Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghaiese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, Hakka dialects, minority languages (see Ethnic groups entry)
Christmas Island:
English, Chinese, Malay
Cocos (Keeling) Islands:
English, Malay
Colombia:
Spanish
Comoros:
Arabic (official), French (official), Comoran (a blend of Swahili and Arabic)
Congo, Democratic Republic of the:
French (official), Lingala (a lingua franca trade language), Kingwana (a dialect of Kiswahili or Swahili), Kikongo, Tshiluba
Congo, Republic of the:
French (official), Lingala and Monokutuba (lingua franca trade languages), many local languages and dialects (of which Kikongo has the most users)
Cook Islands:
English (official), Maori
Costa Rica:
Spanish (official), English spoken around Puerto Limon
Cote d'Ivoire:
French (official), 60 native dialects with Dioula the most widely spoken
Croatia:
Croatian 96%, other 4% (including Italian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and German)
English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication, Hindi the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people, Bengali (official), Telugu (official), Marathi (official), Tamil (official), Urdu (official), Gujarati (official), Malayalam (official), Kannada (official), Oriya (official), Punjabi (official), Assamese (official), Kashmiri (official), Sindhi (official), Sanskrit (official), Hindustani (a popular variant of Hindi/Urdu spoken widely throughout northern India)
note:
24 languages each spoken by a million or more persons; numerous other languages and dialects, for the most part mutually unintelligible
Indonesia:
Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Javanese
Iran:
Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%, Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%
Iraq:
Arabic, Kurdish (official in Kurdish regions), Assyrian, Armenian
Ireland:
English is the language generally used, Irish (Gaelic) spoken mainly in areas located along the western seaboard
Israel:
Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Italy:
Italian (official), German (parts of Trentino-Alto Adige region are predominantly German speaking), French (small French-speaking minority in Valle d'Aosta region), Slovene (Slovene-speaking minority in the Trieste-Gorizia area)
Kazakh (Qazaq, state language) 40%, Russian (official, used in everyday business) 66%
Kenya:
English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages
Kiribati:
English (official), I-Kiribati
Korea, North:
Korean
Korea, South:
Korean, English widely taught in junior high and high school
Kuwait:
Arabic (official), English widely spoken
Kyrgyzstan:
Kirghiz (Kyrgyz) - official language, Russian - official language
note:
in May 2000, the Kyrgyzstani legislature made Russian an official language, equal in status to Kirghiz
Macedonian 70%, Albanian 21%, Turkish 3%, Serbo-Croatian 3%, other 3%
Madagascar:
French (official), Malagasy (official)
Malawi:
English (official), Chichewa (official), other languages important regionally
Malaysia:
Bahasa Melayu (official), English, Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai; note - in addition, in East Malaysia several indigenous languages are spoken, the largest of which are Iban and Kadazan
Maldives:
Maldivian Dhivehi (dialect of Sinhala, script derived from Arabic), English spoken by most government officials
Mali:
French (official), Bambara 80%, numerous African languages
Malta:
Maltese (official), English (official)
Man, Isle of:
English, Manx Gaelic
Marshall Islands:
English (universally spoken and is the official language), two major Marshallese dialects from the Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese
Martinique:
French, Creole patois
Mauritania:
Hasaniya Arabic (official), Pular, Soninke, Wolof (official), French
Mauritius:
English (official), Creole, French, Hindi, Urdu, Hakka, Bojpoori
Mayotte:
Mahorian (a Swahili dialect), French (official language) spoken by 35% of the population
Mexico:
Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages
Micronesia, Federated States of:
English (official and common language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean
Moldova:
Moldovan (official, virtually the same as the Romanian language), Russian, Gagauz (a Turkish dialect)
Monaco:
French (official), English, Italian, Monegasque
Mongolia:
Khalkha Mongol 90%, Turkic, Russian (1999)
Montserrat:
English
Morocco:
Arabic (official), Berber dialects, French often the language of business, government, and diplomacy
English 7% (official), Afrikaans common language of most of the population and about 60% of the white population, German 32%, indigenous languages: Oshivambo, Herero, Nama
Nauru:
Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes
Nepal:
Nepali (official; spoken by 90% of the population), about a dozen other languages and about 30 major dialects; note - many in government and business also speak English (1995)
Netherlands:
Dutch
Netherlands Antilles:
Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish
New Caledonia:
French (official), 33 Melanesian-Polynesian dialects
New Zealand:
English (official), Maori (official)
Nicaragua:
Spanish (official)
note:
English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast
Niger:
French (official), Hausa, Djerma
Nigeria:
English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani
Niue:
Polynesian closely related to Tongan and Samoan, English
Norfolk Island:
English (official), Norfolk a mixture of 18th century English and ancient Tahitian
Northern Mariana Islands:
English, Chamorro, Carolinian
note:
86% of population speaks a language other than English at home
Norway:
Norwegian (official)
note:
small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities
Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries), Burushaski, and other 8%
Palau:
English and Palauan official in all states except Sonsoral (Sonsorolese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official)
Panama:
Spanish (official), English 14%
note:
many Panamanians bilingual
Papua New Guinea:
English spoken by 1%-2%, pidgin English widespread, Motu spoken in Papua region
note:
715 indigenous languages
Paraguay:
Spanish (official), Guarani (official)
Peru:
Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara
Philippines:
two official languages - Filipino (based on Tagalog) and English, eight major dialects - Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocan, Hiligaynon or Ilonggo, Bicol, Waray, Pampango, and Pangasinense
Pitcairn Islands:
English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect)
English (official, regular use limited to literate minority), Mende (principal vernacular in the south), Temne (principal vernacular in the north), Krio (English-based Creole, spoken by the descendants of freed Jamaican slaves who were settled in the Freetown area, a lingua franca and a first language for 10% of the population but understood by 95%)
Singapore:
Chinese (official), Malay (official and national), Tamil (official), English (official)
Slovakia:
Slovak (official), Hungarian
Slovenia:
Slovenian 91%, Serbo-Croatian 6%, other 3%
Solomon Islands:
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2% of population
note:
120 indigenous languages
Somalia:
Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English
South Africa:
11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu
Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
note:
English is commonly used in government and is spoken competently by about 10% of the population
Sudan:
Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note:
program of "Arabization" in process
Suriname:
Dutch (official), English (widely spoken), Sranang Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population and is lingua franca among others), Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), Javanese
Svalbard:
Russian, Norwegian
Swaziland:
English (official, government business conducted in English), siSwati (official)
Sweden:
Swedish
note:
small Lapp- and Finnish-speaking minorities
Switzerland:
German (official) 63.7%, French (official) 19.2%, Italian (official) 7.6%, Romansch 0.6%, other 8.9%
Tajik (official), Russian widely used in government and business
Tanzania:
Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguju (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages
note:
Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources, including Arabic and English, and it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages
Thailand:
Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects
Togo:
French (official and the language of commerce), Ewe and Mina (the two major African languages in the south), Kabye (sometimes spelled Kabiye) and Dagomba (the two major African languages in the north)
Tokelau:
Tokelauan (a Polynesian language), English
Tonga:
Tongan, English
Trinidad and Tobago:
English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese
Tunisia:
Arabic (official and one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce)
English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic
Ukraine:
Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian
United Arab Emirates:
Arabic (official), Persian, English, Hindi, Urdu
United Kingdom:
English, Welsh (about 26% of the population of Wales), Scottish form of Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland)
United States:
English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority)
Uruguay:
Spanish, Portunol, or Brazilero (Portuguese-Spanish mix on the Brazilian frontier)
Uzbekistan:
Uzbek 74.3%, Russian 14.2%, Tajik 4.4%, other 7.1%
English (official), French (official), pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama)
Venezuela:
Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects
Vietnam:
Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
