While it's not the native language of the most people, it's spoken by a significant portion of the global population as a second language for various reasons:
* Global dominance: English is the language of international business, science, aviation, and the internet.
* Historical influence: Due to colonialism and the spread of British and American culture, English has become widespread.
* Educational significance: English is a common language of instruction in many countries.
While other languages like Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, and Spanish have large numbers of native speakers, English holds the distinction of being the most widely used second language globally.