People
List of French speaking African countries
Africa was mainly settled by Britain, France and Portugal during the struggle for Africa and after a lengthy stay on the continent, the colonized nations adopted the language of the colonizers as their official language, hence there are many French-speaking African countries.
It should be noted that there is a proportional distribution of those who speak English, French and Portuguese according to the number and population of the areas colonized by these nations.
There are also French-speaking African countries when French is not the primary or official language and some of these countries have joined the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie, since membership in this organization does not imply or only depend on the fact that the member states use French as the official or primary Language must take over communication.
List of French speaking countries in Africa
- Algeria
2 Benin
3 Burkina Faso
4 Burundi
5 Cameroon
6 Central African Republic
7 Chad
8 Comoros
9 Congo Brazzaville
10 Congo Kinshasa
11 Ivory Coast
12 Djibouti
13 Equatorial Guinea
14 Gabon
15 Guinea (Conakry)
16. Madagascar
17. Mali
18. Mauritania
19. Mauritius
20. Morocco
21. Niger
22. Rwanda
23. Senegal
24. Seychelles
25. Togo
26. Tunisia
French-speaking African countries and percentage of people who can speak French
Below is a list of French speaking countries in Africa where the highest percentage of people speak French:
- Gabon: 80%
- Mauritius: 72.7%
- Ivory Coast: 70%
- Senegal: 70%
- São Tomé and Príncipe: 65% (as a foreign language since the official language is Portuguese)
- Tunisia: 63.6%
- Guinea: 63.2%
- Seychelles: 60%
- Republic of the Congo: 60%
- Equatorial Guinea: 60%
Note : Algeria was a former part of Greater France and in fact the second largest Francophone African country with 57% of the French speaking population, but has since refused to be recognized as a member of the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie due to political tensions with France.
List of French-speaking countries in Africa where French is recognized as an official language
Other official languages are also included in brackets:
- benin
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi (another official language: Kirundi)
- Cameroon (another official language: English)
- Cape Verde (Portuguese is the main language)
- Central African Republic (other official language: Sango)
- Chad (another official language: Arabic)
- Comoros (other official languages: Shikomor and Arabic)
- Democratic Republic of Congo
- Republic of the Congo
- Ivory Coast
- Djibouti (another official language: Arabic)
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea (other official languages: Spanish and Portuguese)
- Gabon
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau (main language is Portuguese)
- Madagascar
- mali
- Mauritania (French is common)
- Mauritius (French is commonly used)
- Morocco (French is common)
- Niger
- Rwanda (Rwanda recently changed its official language to English, but the older generation still speaks French)
- São Tomé and Príncipe (main language is Portuguese)
- Senegal
- Seychelles (other official languages: English and Creole)
- Walk
- Tunisia (French is commonly spoken)
French speaking African countries and their capital
| Algeria | Algiers |
| benin | Porto Novo |
| Burkina Faso | Ouagadougou |
| burundi | Bujumbura |
| Cameroon | Yaoundé |
| Central African Republic | Bangui |
| Chad | N’Djamena |
| Comoros | Moroni |
| Congo Brazzaville | Brazzaville |
| Congo Kinshasa | Kinshasa |
| Ivory Coast | Yamoussoukro |
| Djibouti | Djibouti |
| Equatorial Guinea | Malabo |
| Gabon | Libreville |
| Guinea (Conakry) | Conakry |
| Madagascar | Antananarivo |
| mali | Bamako |
| Mauritania | Nouakchott |
| Mauritius | Port-Louis |
| Morocco | discount |
| Niger | niamey |
| Rwanda | Kigali |
| Senegal | dakar |
| Seychelles | Victoria |
| Walk | Lome |
| Tunisia | Tunis |
French-speaking African countries and their presidents
| Algeria | Abdelaziz Bouteflika (1999–present) |
| benin | Patrice Talon (2016-present) |
| Burkina Faso | Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (since 2015) |
| burundi | Pierre Nkurunziza (since 2005) |
| Cameroon | Paul Biya (1982-present) |
| Central African Republic | Faustin-Archange Touadéra (2016 – present) |
| Chad | Idriss Deby (1990-resent) |
| Comoros | Azali Assoumani (since 2016) |
| Congo Brazzaville | Denis Sassou Nguesso (1997-present) |
| Congo Kinshasa | Joseph Kabila (2001-present) |
| Ivory Coast | Alassane Ouattara (since 2010) |
| Djibouti | Ismaïl Omar Guelleh (1999 – present) |
| Equatorial Guinea | Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (1979–present) |
| Gabon | Ali Bongo Ondimba (2009–present) |
| Guinea (Conakry) | Alpha Condé (2010–present) |
| Madagascar | Hery Rajaonarimampianina (2014–present) |
| mali | Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (2013 – present) |
| Mauritania | Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (2009 – present) |
| Mauritius | Ameenah Gurib (2015–present) |
| Morocco | King Mohammed VI (1999 – present) |
| Niger | Mahamadou Issoufou (2011–present) |
| Rwanda | Paul Kagame (2000–present) |
| Senegal | Macky Sall (2012–present) |
| Seychelles | Danny Faure (2016–present) |
| Walk | Faure Gnassingbé (2005–present) |
| Tunisia | Beji Caid Essebs (2014–present) |
Some French speaking countries in West Africa are:
- Niger
- Chad
- mali
- Senegal
- Walk
- Benin
- Cameroon
- Ivory Coast
- Guinea Conakry
- Burkina Faso
- Mauritania
Among all French-speaking countries in West Africa, as mentioned above, Senegalese French is said to be the closest to standard French. Côte d’Ivoire, on the other hand, has a spiced idiom called “broken French” laced with a sort of slang.
In summary, Africa is the continent with the most French speakers in the world. In most African countries, French is also spoken alongside the indigenous languages, but in some regions of the continent (e.g. Gabon, Abidjan, Ivory Coast) French is spoken as a first language.
French-speaking African countries generally use different variants of French, which differ from standard French in both vocabulary and pronunciation.
These varieties of African French are divided into four groups.
-
- West and Central Africa French – (spoken by 75 million people as a first or second language).
- French in North West Africa (spoken by about 36 million Maghrebis and Berbers)
- The French variety used in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.
- The French variety used in Creoles in the Indian Ocean (Réunion, Mauritius and Seychelles) and has around 1.6 million native and second language speakers.
