Spoken in: India and other 16 countries
Region: South Asia
Hindi is the second most spoken language in the world, after Chinese. About 500 million people speak Hindi, in India and abroad, and the total number of people who can understand the language may be 800 million.
Hindi's popularity has been helped by Bollywood, the Hindi film industry. These movies have an international appeal and now they have broken into the western markets as well.
Total speakers: 487 million
Official language of: India