UN Languages: The 6 Official Languages of the United Nations
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The UN has six official languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Five of them were the languages of the 1945 UN Charter (the languages of the five permanent Security Council members, plus Spanish for Latin America), and Arabic joined in 1973. The UN conducts its meetings in all six: speeches in the General Assembly and the Security Council are interpreted into each of them, and official documents and resolutions are issued in all six. Add up their first- and second-language speakers and you pass 4 billion people, though that total counts anyone who speaks two of them twice.
| Language | Official since | Working (GA) since | Native speakers | Official in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | 1973 | 1973 | ~411 million | 24 countries |
| Chinese | 1946 | 1973 | ~990 million (Mandarin) | China, Singapore (and Taiwan) |
| English | 1946 | 1946 | ~390 million | 58 countries |
| French | 1946 | 1946 | ~74 million | 26 countries |
| Russian | 1946 | 1968 | ~145 million | Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan |
| Spanish | 1946 | 1948 | ~484 million | 20 countries |
Years are for the General Assembly, the body whose resolutions set them (Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish were already the languages of the 1945 Charter). The Security Council has used all six as official and working languages since 1982. Native speakers: Ethnologue 2025 (28th edition), via Wikipedia; Arabic counts all spoken varieties, and Chinese counts Mandarin only. Countries: sovereign states where the language is official, from Wikipedia's country lists (2026).
The map below shades every country where one of the UN6 is spoken as a primary or co-official language. Tap a country to see its population and how each language splits.
On this page
How the UN ended up with six
When the UN Charter was signed in San Francisco in June 1945, it was published in five equally authentic texts: Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Chinese, English, French and Russian were the languages of the five permanent members of the Security Council (the US and the UK share English); Spanish reflected the large share of Latin American states among the founding members.
In February 1946 the General Assembly (resolution 2 (I)) made those five its official languages, with English and French as its working languages. The Secretariat, the UN's staff, still works in English and French. The General Assembly and the Security Council have since made all six both official and working languages.
Spanish became a working language of the General Assembly in 1948, Russian in 1968 and Chinese in 1973. Our history of the UN languages lists the resolution behind each step.
The arrival of Arabic (1973)
Arabic became the sixth official language through General Assembly resolution 3190 (XXVIII), adopted on 18 December 1973, the same day Chinese became a working language. It made Arabic an official and working language of the General Assembly and its Main Committees, and the Arab member states agreed to meet the costs collectively for the first three years.
The Security Council followed on 21 December 1982 with resolution 528. Since then all six have been both official and working languages of the Council as well, which is why its meetings and resolutions come in every one of them.
The six, briefly
Arabic
About 411 million people speak a variety of Arabic as their first language, and it is an official language in 24 countries, from Mauritania to Oman. Modern Standard Arabic, the variety used at the UN, is nobody's mother tongue: it's learned at school, while everyday speech splits into regional varieties (Egyptian, Levantine, Maghrebi, Gulf) that aren't always mutually intelligible. Click around the Arab states on the map and you'll see Arabic coexisting with French in the Maghreb.
Chinese (Mandarin)
Mandarin has about 990 million native speakers, the most of any language, and about 1.18 billion speakers in all. UN documents have used simplified characters since the early 1970s, after the People's Republic of China took China's UN seat in 1971. Hong Kong (where Cantonese is the main language) and Macao show up violet on the map for the broader "Chinese" reach. See Tracking Mandarin Chinese learning progress for what the curve actually looks like.
English
About 390 million native speakers, but the second-language footprint is what makes English the lingua franca of so much: around 1.1 billion more speak it as a second language, about 1.5 billion in all, the most of the six. It's official in 58 countries and is one of the Secretariat's two working languages. The map highlights the historic anglosphere plus the dozens of African and Asian states where English is co-official.
French
About 74 million native speakers and about 312 million in all, with a Francophonie that spans West and Central Africa, the Maghreb, Quebec, Belgium, Switzerland and pockets of the Pacific. It's official in 26 countries, second only to English among the six. French is the Secretariat's other working language, so strong French counts for more at the UN than its native-speaker numbers suggest. Curve: Tracking French learning progress.
Russian
About 145 million native speakers and roughly 110 million more who speak it as a second language, concentrated in Russia, the other post-Soviet states and diaspora communities. It's an official language in four UN member states: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The map shows Russian as a co-spoken language across most of Central Asia and the Caucasus, where it's still a lingua franca, especially among older generations. Curve: Tracking Russian learning progress.
Spanish
About 484 million native speakers, the most after Mandarin, and about 558 million in all. It's the main official language of 20 countries, from Mexico, which has by far the most native speakers, to Argentina, Spain and Equatorial Guinea, which makes it one of the most widely spread of the six. Curve: Tracking Spanish learning progress.
Why Hindi and Portuguese aren't official UN languages
Hindi, Bengali, Portuguese and Japanese all have more native speakers than French, and Hindi and Bengali more than Russian, yet no language has been added since Arabic in 1973. Adding one takes a General Assembly resolution amending its rules of procedure (rule 51 lists the six), and member states share the extra cost of interpretation, translation and documents.
Hindi. India has pushed for it for years. In 2018 the then foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, told India's parliament that Hindi would need the support of two-thirds of member states, 129 countries, and that the extra cost would have to be shared by all of them, although India was ready to spend as much as Rs 400 crore (Deccan Chronicle). A 2014 Indian government statement put the bar at a resolution adopted by a majority of the 193 member states, with costs shared by all of them (PIB). In the meantime the UN publishes news in Hindi through Hindi @ UN, a project India has funded since 2018 (All India Radio).
Portuguese. Portuguese is official in countries on four continents, from Brazil and Portugal to Angola, Mozambique and Timor-Leste. Their Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) backed a bid for UN official status at its 2016 summit in Brasília, with 2030 as the target (Euronews). Portuguese is not an official UN language yet.
What the map doesn't show
Coloring countries violet flattens enormous internal complexity. India is "English" on the map because English is co-official, but in the 2011 census only about one in ten Indians (10.6%) reported speaking English at all, as a first, second or third language. South Africa shades violet for English, but more households speak isiZulu (24.4%) or isiXhosa (16.3%) at home than English (8.7%), according to the 2022 census. The map is a reach view, not a dominance view.
Why polyglots care
If you learn several of the UN6, you can talk to a large share of the world's population, more if you lean towards the ones with big second-language communities (English, French, Russian). It's also a coverage strategy that survives travel: these six are official somewhere on every inhabited continent.
LangTrack's Polyglot Flex view includes the UN Six as a set: it shows your reach and a world map that fills in as your levels go up. An hour on Arabic moves the needle on a map that covers 24 countries; the same hour on Esperanto, charming as it is, doesn't. If you're working on more than one of the six, log each language's hours separately and watch the map fill in.
FAQ
How many official languages does the UN have?
Six: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Five were the languages of the 1945 UN Charter; Arabic was added in 1973. All six are official and working languages of the General Assembly and the Security Council.
What are the 6 official languages of the UN?
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. They are both official and working languages of the General Assembly and the Security Council. 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.
Which languages does the Security Council use?
All six. Since resolution 528 of 1982, the Council's rules of procedure say Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are both its official and its working languages.
Why isn't Hindi an official UN language?
Adding a language takes a General Assembly resolution amending its rules of procedure, and member states share the extra cost. India has campaigned for Hindi; in 2018 its foreign minister said it would need the support of two-thirds of member states. Since 2018 the UN has published news in Hindi through a project India funds.
Learning more than one of the six?
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