Portuguese is a language that is spoken around the world, and it is spoken by about 279 million people. The most populous country that speaks Portuguese as its native language is Brazil, which has a population of over 207 million people. Not only is it the largest Portuguese-speaking nation, but it is the only one located in the Americas. In Brazil, Portuguese is the first language of 99.5% of the total population.
Brazil isn’t the only country or territory where Portuguese is spoken. In Portugal and Sao Tome and Principe, it is spoken by the vast majority as a native language. In Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, it is the native language of a significant minority of the population. In Angola, it is also spoken by the majority as a second language. In Cape Verde, the language is spoken by the majority as a second language. In East Timor and Macau, Portuguese is spoken by a small minority as the native language.
There are other countries worldwide that have Portuguese speakers. This includes Venezuela, Guyana and the United States. Over 730,000 people in the United States speak Portuguese at home. Other areas where Portuguese is spoken include Japan, Malaysia, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia, just to name a few.