* Native speakers: This includes people who grew up speaking German as their first language. Estimates put this number at around 100 million.
* Second language speakers: This includes people who learned German as a second language. This number is much harder to estimate, as there are many people who have some degree of German proficiency but might not consider themselves fluent. Some estimates place this number at 75-100 million.
* Total German speakers: This includes both native and second language speakers. Based on the above estimates, the total number of German speakers could be somewhere around 175-200 million.
However, it's important to note:
* These are just estimates, and there is no definitive source of accurate data.
* The number of German speakers is constantly changing due to migration, language learning, and other factors.
Therefore, it's best to use the term "approximately" when discussing the number of German speakers in the world.