The UK is a cultural and linguistic melting pot, with people from across the world moving to our island.
There are more than 300 languages spoken in London alone and according to the Office of National Statistics, for 4.1 million people in the UK, English is not their first language.
These are in addition to the languages native to the UK such as Scots, Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic and Cornish.
The most spoken non-native language is Polish with almost 550,000 speakers. The largest concentration of Polish speakers is in west London, Slough, Southampton, Birmingham and Leeds.
Punjabi comes in second with more than 270,000 speakers. It is the most common Indian language in the UK, which is home to one of the largest Punjabi communities in the world.
And in third is Urdu, with almost 270,000 speakers. It is the second most common Indian language in the UK with most speakers in Scotland, the West Midlands, Manchester and Leeds.
Making up the rest of the top five are Bengali and Gujarati. Indian languages are common in the UK due to Britain’s colonisation of India and the British Nationality Act 1948, which enabled migration through the Commonwealth.
The rest of the top ten is made up of Arabic, French, Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish, with German failing to make the top 10.
The top languages spoken in the UK and the number of speakers
- Polish – 546,174
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Punjabi – 273,000
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Urdu – 269,000
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Bengali – 221,000
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Gujarati – 213,094
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Arabic – 159,290
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French – 147,099
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Chinese – 141,052
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Portuguese – 133,453
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Spanish – 120,222
