Donald A. DePalma
Countries and Languages That Matter the Most
by Donald A. DePalma
November 2007, 2 pages

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These charts originally appeared in the Common Sense Advisory report, “On the Web, Some Countries Matter More than Others” (Sep07).

2007
Rank
Country GDP in USD (billions) % of 2007 GWP % of
GWP Cumulative
Internet Users
(millions)
Dominant Language
> 60%

1

United States

13,244.5

27.0%

27.0%

205.3

English

2

Japan

4,367.4

8.9%

35.9%

86.3

Japanese

3

Germany

2,897.0

5.9%

41.8%

50.6

German

4

China

2,630.1

5.4%

47.1%

123.0

Chinese1

5

United Kingdom

2,373.6

4.8%

52.0%

37.6

English

6

France

2,231.6

4.5%

56.5%

29.9

French

7

Italy

1,852.5

3.8%

60.3%

28.8

Italian

8

Canada

1,269.0

2.6%

62.9%

21.9

English/ French2

9

Spain

1,225.7

2.5%

65.3%

19.2

Spanish

10

Brazil

1,067.7

2.2%

67.5%

25.9

Portuguese

11

Russia

979.0

2.0%

69.5%

23.7

Russian

12

South Korea

888.2

1.8%

71.3%

33.9

Korean

13

India

886.8

1.8%

73.1%

60.0

English/ Hindi3

14

Mexico

840.0

1.7%

74.8%

18.6

Spanish

15

Australia

754.8

1.5%

76.4%

14.6

English

16

Netherlands

663.1

1.4%

77.7%

10.8

Dutch

17

Belgium

393.5

0.8%

78.5%

5.1

Dutch/ French4

18

Turkey

392.4

0.8%

79.3%

16.0

Turkish

19

Sweden

385.2

0.8%

80.1%

6.8

Swedish

20

Switzerland

377.2

0.8%

80.9%

5.0

German

21

Indonesia

364.2

0.7%

81.6%

16.0

Indonesian5

22

Taiwan

355.7

0.7%

82.3%

13.2

Chinese

23

Saudi Arabia

348.6

0.7%

83.1%

3.2

Arabic

24

Poland

338.6

0.7%

83.7%

10.6

Polish

25

Norway

335.2

0.7%

84.4%

Norwegian

Figure 1: Top 25 Countries by Gross Domestic Product in 2007

Source: CIA World Factbook and Common Sense Advisory, Inc.
 

Fig02

Figure 2: Ten Mega-Languages Account for 76 Percent of Online Access

Source: Ethnologue, CIA World Factbook, and Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

Endnotes

1 Major dialects include Standard Chinese or Mandarin, Yue (Cantonese), Wu (Shanghainese), Minbei (Fuzhou), Minnan (Hokkien-Taiwanese), Xiang, Gan, and Hakka dialects.

2 English accounts for 59.3 percent of residents, French for 23.2 percent.

3 English is used for national, political, and commercial communication. Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the population; plus 14 other official languages.

4 Dutch accounts for 60%, French for the other 40%.

5 Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, and local dialects (the most widely spoken is Javanese).

 
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