Malay speaking countries
Malay is the official language in Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore and is spoken in 3 more countries as monther tongue by a part of the population. The Malay language (native name: Bahasa Melayu, بهاس ملايو) has its roots in the Austronesian language family.With a share of around 58%, it is most widespread in Malaysia. A total of about 56.8 million people worldwide speak Malay as their mother tongue.
| Country | Region | Official language | Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indonesia | Southeast Asia | yes | 12.1 % | 33,440,000 |
| Malaysia | Southeast Asia | yes | 58.4 % | 19,141,000 |
| Thailand | Southeast Asia | no | 3.6 % | 2,518,000 |
| Philippines | Southeast Asia | no | 0.7 % | 777,000 |
| Singapore | Southeast Asia | yes | 11.9 % | 649,000 |
| Brunei | Southeast Asia | yes | 45.5 % | 201,000 |
| East Timor | Southeast Asia | no | 2.2 % | 30,000 |
Unless otherwise described in the text, this page is about native speakers - not the total number of speakers. How many people understand or speak Malay 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 maybe not listed here.