Korean speaking countries
Korean is an official language in South Korea and North Korea and is spoken in 4 other countries as monther tongue by a part of the population. The Korean language (native name: 한국어) has its roots in the Koreanic language family.As a percentage of the total population, the largest share of around 100 percent is in South Korea. A total of about 79.3 million people worldwide speak Korean as their mother tongue.
| Country | Region | Official language | Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea | East Asia | yes | 99.9 % | 51,693,000 |
| North Korea | East Asia | yes | 99.9 % | 25,946,000 |
| United States of America | North America | no | 0.3 % | 996,000 |
| Japan | East Asia | no | 0.5 % | 628,000 |
| Guam | Micronesia | no | 3.3 % | 6,000 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | Micronesia | no | 6.2 % | 3,000 |
Unless otherwise described in the text, this page is about native speakers — not the total number of speakers. How many people understand or speak Korean as a subsequently learned language is not the subject of this page. Countries where native speakers make up only a few thousand, or even a few hundred people, or countries with a percentage well below 1% are unlikely to be listed here.