How much of population speak mandarin?

It's difficult to give a precise number for how many people speak Mandarin, as there are different ways to define "Mandarin" and "speak." Here's a breakdown:

1. Native Speakers:

* China: Mandarin (specifically Putonghua, the standard dialect) is the official language of China. It's estimated that around 900 million people in China speak Mandarin as their native language.

* Taiwan: Mandarin is also the official language of Taiwan, with an estimated 23 million native speakers (although the Taiwanese dialect differs from Putonghua).

* Singapore: Mandarin is one of the official languages of Singapore, with a significant number of native speakers.

* Other Countries: Mandarin is spoken by a smaller number of native speakers in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam, due to historical Chinese communities.

2. Total Speakers:

* Including L2 speakers: If you count people who speak Mandarin as a second language, the number skyrockets. This includes people who have learned Mandarin for work, education, or other reasons.

* Difficult to quantify: It's incredibly difficult to get an accurate number for total Mandarin speakers, as there's no global census on language proficiency.

Overall:

* It's safe to say that Mandarin is one of the most spoken languages in the world, with hundreds of millions of native speakers and millions more who speak it as a second language.

* The exact number is difficult to pin down, but it's likely in the billions.

If you are looking for a specific number, I recommend searching for information about "Mandarin speakers in [specific country]" for more accurate data.