Map highlighting countries where Spanish is an official language

The following is a list of the 21 countries where Spanish or Castillian is an official language:

Nr.	Country	# Population
#	-	406,873,355
1	Mexico	108,700,891
2	Colombia	45,600,000
3	Spain	45,116,894
4	Argentina	39,921,833
5	Venezuela	28,674,757
6	Peru	28,674,757
7	Chile	16,598,074
8	Ecuador	13,850,000
9	Guatemala	12,800,000
10	Cuba	11,382,820
11	Dominican Republic	9,183,984
12	Honduras	7,326,496
13	Bolivia	8,857,870
14	El Salvador	6,948,073
15	Nicaragua	5,603,000
16	Paraguay	6,158,000
17	Costa Rica	4,328,000
18	Uruguay	3,323,906
19	Panama	3,320,000
20	Gabon	1,455,000
21	Equatorial Guinea	504,000

Spanish was removed as an official language of the Philippines in 1973 and was removed from being a compulsory subject in 1987. However, on 08 August 2007, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced that the Philippine government asked help from the Spanish Government in her plan to reintroduce the Spanish as a required subject in the Philippine school system. ^[1] It remains to be seen if Spanish will be reinstated as an official language.

	Country	Population
1	Philippines	87,857,473

Dependent entity

Nr.	Country	# Population	Status
1	Puerto Rico	3,944,259	A self governing unincorporated territory of the United States with Commonwealth status

Miami, in USA, has English, Spanish and Creole as Official Languages and New Mexico has Spanish and English.^{citation needed}

Special Status in other countries

Spanish language is not official but has a special status in, at least, over 10 countries (in the education system, the media, or even, in some official documents): Andorra, Belize, Brazil, Gibraltar, Morocco, Philippines, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America, Vatican City and Western Sahara.

Besides, there are 4 countries or territories where Spanish Creole, Papiamento or Chamorro, is official: Aruba, Netherland Antilles, Guam and Northern Mariana Islands. So, there are more than 40 countries where Spanish or Spanish Creole is spoken by significant parts of the population.

References