The graph illustrates how many students will learn the three most spoken languages in the world between 2020 and 2030.
Overall, what stands out from the graph is that English will remain the most spoken language among students in the future compared to Spanish and Mandarin. Another interesting point is that Mandarin and Spanish will be close competitors throughout the given time period.
Looking at the details, English will be learned by 550 million students in 2020. After that, the number will increase considerably until 2024. However, after 2024, the trend will decline and reach approximately 640 million students. This decline will be temporary, as the number of English learners will rise significantly again until 2030.
Next, the other two languages, Spanish and Mandarin, will be learned by 200 million and 100 million students, respectively, in 2020. Afterward, both trends will increase steadily, reaching the same number of around 350 million students in 2026. However, the trend for Mandarin will continue to grow gradually, surpassing Spanish and reaching 520 million students by 2030.
