How Many People Speak Swedish In 2024 (Latest Data)

Do you know the number of people who can speak Swedish and its dialects? You may already be aware that not many people speak Swedish outside of Sweden.

In fact, a lot of people even ask questions like, “Which countries speak Swedish as a second language?” or “Could it be the Finns? ” Well, this post will walk you through all of these doubts.

Swedish is among the top 100 languages spoken worldwide, with roughly 10.8 million speakers.

In this article, I have compiled the most recent statistics on the number of Swedish speakers worldwide and across all Swedish dialects.

Let’s begin right away!

How Many People Speak Swedish: General Stats

1.  As of the date of June 2023, more than 11 million people speak Swedish around the world. Among them, 10.45 million people live in Sweden.
2. Finland has around 263,000 people who speak Swedish.
3. Similarly, the USA has around 76,000, Åland contributes 26,000, Canada consists of 17, 000 and Estonia has around 13,990 people who speak Swedish.
4. Swedish is considered one of the 100 most spoken languages in the world.
5. Out of all European languages, Swedish is the 14th most spoken language after Greek.
6. According to the 2018 data, there are approx 10.5 million people who speak Swedish around the world.
7. Among the overall population, 90% of Swedish speakers live in Sweden.
8. An estimated 40,000 students are enrolled in universities to study Swedish.
9. It is the most studied of the Scandinavian languages and is taught at more than 200 colleges around the world.
10. Though Swedish is the official language of Sweden, it is also known as one of the two national languages in Finland.
11. Among all the North Germanic languages, the Swedish language has the most population of speakers.
12. According to the survey, there are around 26,000 people currently studying Swedish around the world. Most of them are in Germany.
13. There are six dialects in the Swedish language.
14. There are approximately 7 million people who speak Swedish as a second language.
15. Swedish is the world’s fourth most widespread native language, after Chinese (first), Hindi (second), and Spanish (3rd). 
16. With 20% of the population speaking it, it is also the official language of five nations.
17. Swedish Americans and their descendants make up about 2% of the US population as of the most recent American Community Survey. In their homes, about 56,000 people still use Swedish.

History Of The Swedish Language:

18. Swedish is one of the Indo-European languages that evolved from Old Norse. It was spoken by Germanic people in the Viking Age. 
19. This language is spreading throughout Europe and modern-day Russia thanks to Viking traders.
20. Starting with Old Norse, this language evolved from the North Germanic languages in the 14th or 15th centuries.
21. The same language was then spoken by the Norwegians, Danes, Icelanders, and  Swedes. This is due to the mutual understanding of these languages. According to the reforms of 1906, the Swedish government controls the standard form of the Swedish language that is still used today.

How Many People Speak Swedish: Country Wise

22. According to research, of all the North Germanic languages still in use today, Swedish has the greatest number of speakers.
23. Finland has approximately 291,000 people who speak Swedish.
24. Finland contributes around 5.45 of the total population.
25. Research states that the Åland Islands has approximately 25,000 people who speak Swedish.
26. Additionally, there is a small minority of people who speak Swedish in Ukraine. These people fled from Estonia in the 18th century after it was annexed by the Russian Empire and they settled there.
27. The USA has 76,120 Swedish speakers whereas 17,099 Swedish speakers are in Canada.
28. Sweden has a population of 9.2 million people who speak Swedish as a first language, making it the language of almost all citizens.
29. Out of a total population of 9.9 million, this is (as of 2016). Sami, Meänkieli, Finnish, Romani Chib, and Yiddish are among the five minority languages recognized by the government of Sweden.
30. The other Scandinavian nations (Denmark and Norway), as well as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Australia, also have somewhat significant populations of Swedish speakers.

Following is the country-wise data of people speaking Swedish.

Country	Swedish speakers (Native)
Sweden	10,449,390
Finland	262,999
USA	76,120
Åland Islands	26,240
Canada	17,099
Denmark	18,010
Norway	16,500
Estonia	14,000
Total Swedish Speakers	10,880,358

31. In addition to the above data, approximately 26,100 people, mostly in Germany, are noticed to be studying Swedish globally.
32. When 1.2 million Swedish immigrants arrived in the USA between 1885 and 1995, the Swedish language became the dominant one. In the Midwest of the United States, these people established the Swedish-American community.
33. California, Minnesota, and Illinois are the states where they are most concentrated. As a result, many people in the USA speak Swedish. The Midwest, also known as the Wisconsin, Dakotas, Minnesota, and Lowa, is home to Swedish immigrants who have recently arrived in the United States.
34. The states of Oregon and Washington, which are in the Pacific Northwest, are home to many Swedish speakers.
35. There are 330,000 Swedish people living in Canada. These people primarily reside in Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton, which are located in the regions west of Lake Superior.
36. Swedish appears to be a minority language in Denmark. In Denmark, it ranks as the third most popular language. It is a language spoken by 13% of Danes.
37. More than 1000 Estonians who spoke Swedish were forced to march to Southern Ukraine when the Russian Empire occupied Estonia in the 18th century.
38. So those people who marched, i.e. 1000 people, speak Swedish in different dialects.
39. The Finnish region of Aland is autonomous. Around 88% of locals in this area are Swedish speakers, with a touch of the Aland Swedish dialect.

Regulatory Body For The Swedish Language:

40. The Swedish language is governed in Sweden by the Swedish Language Council. It does not, however, mandate language use. It functions for French speakers like the Académie française.
41. The Research Institute for the Languages of Finland is a unique organization in Finland that works formally to regulate the use of the Swedish language.
42. To distinguish between the Swedish spoken in Sweden and Finland, this institute created the Finlandssvensk ordbok dictionary.
43. Additionally, it aims to keep the Swedish language understandable.

Swedish Dialects:

The Swedish dialects vary according to the specific variations. There are six dialects in the Swedish language.

1. Gotland dialects:

Goatland has unique dialects which are extremely uncommon compared to remaining Sweden, and it has more than 60,000 speakers.

While Swedish derives from East Norse, the dialects of Goatland come from old Gutnish.

2. Geatish dialects

The western regions of the country are home to the Götaland dialects, which include Mellansvenska, Bohuslänska, Götaml (Geatish), and Göteborgska (Middle Swedish).

There are 2,985,560 people who speak dialects from Götaland.

3. Norrland dialects

In the northern regions of Sweden, Norrland dialects are spoken. In Norrland, there are many different dialects that each have their own distinctive characteristics.

There are approximately 1,185,781 speakers of Norrland dialects worldwide.

4. Svealand dialects

The number of language speakers of Svealand dialects is over 4,232,300.

Swedish’s eastern regions are home to Svealand dialects. The Svea area can be separated into four distinct sub-groups: Mellansvenska, Dalmål, Uppsvenska, and Bergslagsmål. Uppland is the centre of the Sveaml dialects.

5. Swedish dialects (South)

The three groups of Scanian dialects—Sknska, Blekingska, and Halländska—are typically spoken in the southern regions of Sweden. Speaking Belkingska in Blekinge, speaking Sknska in Scania, and speaking Halländska in Halland.

1,402,425 speakers of Scanian, 3,40,243 speakers of Halländska, and 1,58,937 speakers of Blekingska make up the total number of speakers.

6. Swedish dialects (East Finland & Estonia)

In Estonia and Finland, various varieties of Swedish are spoken. The western regions of Finland speak the Finnish dialects, while the Estonian language is slowly disappearing because the majority of Swedish-speaking people left Estonia during World War II.

Following are the detailed statistics of Swedish dialects.

Sr. No	Swedish Dialects	Number of speakers
1.	Gotland dialects (Gutnish or Gutemål)	60,000
2.	Götaland dialects (Geatish or Götamål)	2,985,560
3.	Norrland dialects	1,185,781
4.	Svealand dialects	4,232,300
5.	Scanian	1 402 425
6.	Halländska	340 243
7.	Blekingska	158 937

Related Read:

• How Many People Speak English
• How Many People Speak Spanish In The US
• How Many People Speak German

Final Verdict: How Many People Speak Swedish (2024)

Now you have all the numbers of the Swedish-speaking population. Have a look at these numbers and which will give you a complete idea of Sweden speakers all over the world.

I hope you found the above facts and figures helpful. 

If I have missed something to mention, then let us know in the comment section below.