<P> Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era, and while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language . It is, by international treaty, the official language for aeronautical and maritime communications . English is one of the official languages of the United Nations and many other international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee . </P> <P> English is studied most often in the European Union, and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages among Europeans is 67 percent in favour of English ahead of 17 percent for German and 16 percent for French (as of 2012). Among some of the non-English - speaking EU countries, the following percentages of the adult population claimed to be able to converse in English in 2012: 90 percent in the Netherlands, 89 percent in Malta, 86 percent in Sweden and Denmark, 73 percent in Cyprus and Austria, 70 percent in Finland, and over 50 percent in Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, and Germany . In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38 percent of Europeans consider that they can speak English . </P> <P> Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English - speaking countries . </P> <P> In publishing, English literature predominates considerably with 28 percent of all books published in the world (leclerc 2011) and 30 percent of web content in 2011 (from 50 percent in 2000). </P>

Number of countries that speak english as a first language