UN Official Languages: When and Why Each of the Six Was Adopted

The United Nations has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Five of them were there from the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. Arabic joined in 1973. In between, the UN spent almost three decades sorting out a second, less famous question: which of those languages it would actually work in.

This is the short history, with the dates and resolution numbers so you can check them. The main source is the UN's own Dag Hammarskjöld Library FAQ on official languages. For a tour of the six languages themselves, see our guide to the six UN languages.

On this page

Official vs working languages

The distinction matters for everything that follows. An official language is one that a UN body's documents and speeches are made available in. A working language is one the body uses to run its own business: drafting, minutes, day-to-day correspondence. In 1946 the UN had five official languages but only two working ones, English and French.

Over time the General Assembly and the Security Council promoted every official language to working-language status. The Secretariat, the UN's staff, still has just two working languages, English and French, which is why UN job openings ask for one or the other.

The timeline

Sources: UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library for the GA and Security Council decisions; the UN Charter, Chapter XIX for Article 111. Two sources give slightly different days for the 1969 Security Council resolution, so the table gives the month only.

1945–46: the founding five

The Charter's five languages map closely onto the founding powers. Chinese, English, French and Russian were the languages of the five permanent members of the Security Council (the US and UK share English). Spanish was the language of a large share of the original 51 member states, most of them in Latin America.

Making English and French the only working languages was a practical choice: they were the established languages of diplomacy, and the League of Nations had worked in them. It was also the start of a long tug-of-war, because a language that is official but not working gets translated, not used.

1948–1973: working-language status, one by one

Spanish was first, in 1948, pushed by the Latin American bloc. Russian followed twenty years later, in 1968 in the General Assembly and January 1969 in the Security Council. Chinese came last of the original five: the General Assembly made it a working language in December 1973, two years after the People's Republic of China took China's seat, and the Security Council followed in January 1974.

1973: Arabic becomes the sixth

On the same day the General Assembly upgraded Chinese, it adopted resolution 3190 (XXVIII), making Arabic an official and working language of the General Assembly and its Main Committees. The Arab member states agreed to cover the cost for the first three years, which helped the proposal through. The Security Council added Arabic nine years later, in 1982. That 18 December date is now celebrated as UN Arabic Language Day.

Arabic is the only language ever added to the original list. Others have been proposed, but each addition means interpreters in every meeting and translators for every document, and the General Assembly has not agreed to another one since.

Where things stand today

• General Assembly and Security Council: all six are official and working languages.
• Secretariat: English and French are the working languages. Most internal work happens in English.
• Language Days: since 2010 the UN has marked one day for each language: French 20 March, Chinese 20 April, English and Spanish 23 April, Russian 6 June, Arabic 18 December.

Why this matters if you're learning one

For a learner, the history explains a practical fact: at the UN, English and French open the most doors because they are the Secretariat's languages. The other four add weight, and are what the UN’s language proficiency exams and interpreter careers are built around, but the day-to-day work runs in the two working languages.

If you are deciding which one to take on, our comparison of which UN language to learn weighs them by speakers, difficulty and usefulness. And if you're curious what learning all of them would take, here is the honest hour count for all six.

FAQ

What are the six official languages of the UN?

Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Five of them date from 1946; Arabic was added by the General Assembly in December 1973.

What is the difference between an official and a working language at the UN?

Official languages are the ones a body's documents and speeches are made available in. Working languages are the ones it actually uses to run its business. The General Assembly and Security Council now treat all six as both. The Secretariat's working languages are English and French.

When did Arabic become an official UN language?

On 18 December 1973, by General Assembly resolution 3190 (XXVIII), for the General Assembly and its Main Committees. The Security Council added Arabic on 21 December 1982 by resolution 528.

Why isn't Hindi or Portuguese a UN language?

Adding a language takes a General Assembly decision and the money for translators and interpreters in every meeting and document. No language has been added since Arabic in 1973.