om participating in the conversation and limit access to information.
Good thing is that the internet allows its users to connect to other people from all over the world and understand contents in their specific languages.
Have you ever wondered what are the most used languages on the internet in 2025 for web content? This article is for you.
Most Used Languages on the Internet in 2025
People in every country use a specific language to communicate.
Some are monolingual, but there are multilingual and can speak and understand several languages.
One of the most common modes of communication in this modern world is internet communication.
Internet users share information over the internet.
It became a global platform to exchange information and connect people.
Since the internet is available worldwide, many languages are used, and each has unique characters and forms.
English is the most common and most-used language that connects people in different parts of the world.
It is also the most popular language used for content on the internet.
Most Used Languages by Websites
As of January 2023, almost 59% of websites used the English language for their content.
It is followed by the Russian language, with 5.3%, and the Spanish language, with 4.3%.
In terms of internet users, approximately 1.19 billion English-speaking people used the internet in 2020, accounting for more than one-fourth of all internet users worldwide.
Chinese-speaking users follow, accounting for more than 19%.
10 Most Used Languages on the Internet for Web Content
Here is the list of the ten most used languages on the internet for web content as of January 2023:
- 58.8% of websites used the English language for web content
- 5.3% of websites used the Russian language for web content
- 4.3% of websites used the Spanish language for web content
- 3.7% of websites used the French language for web content
- 3.7% of websites used the German language for web content
- 3.0% of websites used the Japanese language for web content
- 2.8% of websites used the Turkish language for web content
- 2.3% of websites used the Persian language for web content
- 1.7% of websites used the Chinese language for web content
- 1.6% of websites used the Italian language for web content
Internet Users by Language
According to statistics, almost three out of four internet users cannot understand more than 60% of all websites without using a translator.
In 2020, more than 1.53 billion people in the world speak English, of which 1.19 billion were internet users.
This is equivalent to around 25.9% of global internet users. While 1.47 billion people speak Chinese, of which 888 million were internet users.
As of January 2020, out of 516 million people that speak Spanish, 70.4% were using the internet, and out of 447 million people that speak Arabic, 53% were using the internet.
Number of Internet Users by Language
Let’s take a look at the number of internet users by language in 2020, based on the Internet World Stats:
- Approximately 1.19 billion English-speaking people who use the internet correspond to 25.9% of the world’s internet users
- Approximately 888 million Chinese-speaking people who use the internet correspond to 19.4% of the world’s internet users
- Approximately 364 million Spanish-speaking people who use the internet correspond to 7.9% of the world’s internet users
- Approximately 237 million Arabic-speaking people who use the internet correspond to 5.2% of the world’s internet users
- Approximately 172 million Portuguese-speaking people who use the internet correspond to 3.7% of the world’s internet users
Least Used Languages in the World
Now that we know which are the most used languages on the internet, which are the least spoken languages in the world?
Studies from the Atlas of the World Languages published by UNESCO shows there are 64 endangered languages in the world with one or two remaining speakers.
Some of them are Andoa from Peru and Bare from Brazil.
Among rarest languages across the globe are Tanema from Solomon Islands, Lemerig from Vanuatu, Njerep from Nigeria, Ongota from Ethiopia, and Liki from the Papua region of Indonesia.
Languages in Google Translate
Google Translate is doing its effort to add less-spoken languages to its roster every year.
In 2022, the platform unveiled 22 new language additions, including dialects, which are understood and spoken by an estimated 300 million people globally.
Among the additions during the year are Bhojpuri, used and understood by 50 million people from Northern India, Nepal, and Fiji.
Aymara and Guarani were also added over the same period, spoken by people in some parts of South America.
The rarest addition during the year was Sanskrit, an ancient language currently used by only 20,000 people.
Countries with the Most Internet Users
As of January 2023, about 5.16 billion people worldwide are using the internet.
China leads all the countries with the most internet users, accounting for 1.050 billion.
This is more than three times the number of internet users in the US, with 311.3 million. While India was the second-leading country with the most internet users, accounting for 692 million.
According to Statista, the US and India have the most internet users, next to China.
They are also the biggest English-speaking markets in the world.
Their combined number of internet users exceeded a billion count in 2023.
This reflects in more English content on the internet since more countries are English-speakers or understand the English language.
Internet Penetration Rate
Due to the development of telecommunication networks, continuous modernization, and the advancement of mobile technology, more people can access the internet.
This has led to the rise of the global internet user count.
On average, the internet penetration rate worldwide as of January 2023 was around 64.4%.
The region with the highest internet penetration rate was Northern Europe, with 97.4% of the population using the internet.
It is followed by Western Europe, with 93.5%.
List of Regions with the Highest Internet Penetration Rate
Below are the regions with the highest internet penetration rate as of January 2023:
- 97.4% of Northern Europe’s population is using the internet
- 93.5% of Western Europe’s population is using the internet
- 92% of Northern America’s population is using the internet
- 88.4% of Southern Europe’s population is using the internet
- 86.9% of Eastern Europe’s population is using the internet
- 80.6% of Southern America’s population is using the internet
- 79.4% of Oceania’s population is using the internet
- 75.6% of South-Eastern Asia’s population is using the internet
Conclusion
It is not surprising that the English language leads the list of the most used languages on the internet in 2025 since it is the universal language.
More than 1.5 billion people worldwide use and understand this language.
Based on the shares of websites using specific languages for their content, Russian and Spanish languages come after the English language.
Knowing this information helps businesses, website owners, content creators, and writers to find the best languages for their web content that fit their audience.
