Where is Esperanto spoken? Countries and data

Esperanto is spoken in more than 120 countries, but it is not the main language of any place. Speakers are most numerous in Europe and East Asia, with notable communities in Brazil and the United States. In 2023 the Universal Esperanto Association had individual members in 130 countries and territories, led by France, Germany, Brazil, the USA and Japan. Africa is the newest growth area: the first World Congress on the continent took place in Tanzania in 2024.

There is no worldwide count of speakers per country. The data below come from membership lists, a few national censuses, the Pasporta Servo hosting network and the history of the World Congress. For overall numbers, see how many people speak Esperanto.

#Which countries have the most Esperanto speakers?

No source can rank countries by total speakers. The most comparable indicator is individual membership of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA). In 2023 it had 4,700 individual members in 130 countries and territories. The top five:

France401

Germany394

Brazil279

United States248

Japan209

Show the data

Rank	Country	UEA individual members (2023)
1	France	401
2	Germany	394
3	Brazil	279
4	United States	248
5	Japan	209

Counting people who join through national associations, the UEA network had about 12,800 members in 2023. Many speakers join only their national association, a local club or no organisation at all, so these numbers show where the organised movement is strong, not where all speakers live.

#What do censuses say?

Only a few countries ask about Esperanto in their census. The figures that statisticians use:

Hungary's figure is high because Esperanto counted for the state language exams that Hungarian universities required. Esperanto became one of the most popular exam languages there in the 2000s, and Budapest's Eötvös Loránd University had a department of Esperanto and interlinguistics from 1966 to 2006.

#Where can you stay with Esperanto speakers?

Pasporta Servo, the hospitality network run by the youth organisation TEJO since 1974, shows how widely speakers are spread. In 2026 it listed more than 2,400 hosts in 121 countries and about 1,800 cities. Hosts offer free accommodation to travellers who speak Esperanto.

#Which countries have hosted the World Esperanto Congress?

The World Esperanto Congress has met in a different city almost every year since 1905. Hosting reflects where the movement has been strongest:

Outside Europe, congresses have been held in Cuba (Havana 1990 and 2010), China (Beijing 1986 and 2004), South Korea (Seoul 1994 and 2017), Vietnam (Hanoi 2012) and Tanzania (Arusha 2024), among others. The 2026 congress met in Graz, Austria, and the 2027 congress is planned for Melbourne, Australia.

#Europe

France has the most UEA members and hosted the first World Congress, in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1905. Germany is a close second; the town of Herzberg am Harz has called itself the Esperanto-Stadt ("Esperanto town") since a council decision of 11 July 2006, with bilingual signs and an Esperanto cultural centre.

Poland is Zamenhof's homeland: he was born in Białystok and published Esperanto in Warsaw. In 2014 Poland added "the Esperanto language as a carrier of Esperanto culture" to its national list of intangible cultural heritage, and the record 1987 centenary congress in Warsaw drew 5,946 participants. In 2026 Austria added Esperanto culture to its own intangible heritage inventory; Vienna is home to the Esperanto Museum of the Austrian National Library, founded in 1927.

#The Americas

Brazil has one of the largest movements outside Europe. The Brazilian Esperanto League was founded on 21 July 1907. Esperanto spread there partly through Spiritism: the Brazilian Spiritist Federation has long published Esperanto textbooks. A bill to make Esperanto an optional school subject passed the Senate and has been pending in the Chamber of Deputies since 2009 (PL 6162/2009); in June 2026 the rapporteur of the Constitution and Justice Committee filed his report, and the bill is ready for a vote in that committee.

The United States ranks fourth in UEA membership. Cuba has hosted two World Congresses, and Radio Havana Cuba has a weekly Esperanto programme, online only since 2025.

#Asia

China has an organised movement backed for decades by state institutions. The China Esperanto League was founded in Beijing on 11 March 1951, and Radio Peking (later China Radio International) broadcast in Esperanto from 19 December 1964. Beijing hosted the World Congress in 1986 and 2004.

Japan has a long tradition: the Japanese Esperanto Institute was founded in 1919, and the Oomoto religion has promoted Esperanto since the early 1920s. South Korea hosted World Congresses in 1994 and 2017. Wikipedia also names Iran among the Asian countries where Esperanto is most widespread, and Vietnam hosted the congress in 2012.

#Africa

Africa is a newer growth area for the movement. The 2024 World Congress in Arusha, Tanzania, the first on the continent, had 854 registered participants. According to Libera Folio, they included 95 registrants from Burundi and 79 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo – large delegations for countries that rarely appear in congress statistics.

#Is Esperanto official anywhere?

No. No country or region has Esperanto as an official language. Two historical episodes come closest:

• In 1908 Esperantists proposed turning Neutral Moresnet, a tiny neutral territory between Belgium and Germany, into an Esperanto state called Amikejo ("place of friendship"). The plan ended when the territory was absorbed by Belgium after the First World War.
• In San Marino, the International Academy of Sciences (AIS), founded in 1985, used Esperanto as its working language.

For a list of the organisations active in each country, see Esperanto organisations.

#Common questions

#Which country has the most Esperanto speakers?

No reliable count exists. By UEA membership in 2023, France (401 individual members) and Germany (394) lead, followed by Brazil, the USA and Japan. Hungary recorded the highest census figure, 8,397 in 2011, largely because of language exams.

#Is Esperanto spoken in Africa?

Yes, increasingly. The first World Esperanto Congress in Africa took place in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2024, with large groups from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

#Is there an Esperanto country?

No. Esperanto speakers call their worldwide community Esperantujo ("Esperanto-land"), meaning wherever Esperanto is spoken – at congresses, in clubs, in homes and online.

#Is Esperanto popular in China?

China has one of the largest organised movements in Asia, with the China Esperanto League (founded 1951), decades of state radio broadcasts and two World Congresses in Beijing.

#Is Esperanto taught in schools anywhere?

Only in a few places and usually as an option. Hungary accepted it for state language exams, and China and Poland have university programmes in interlinguistics or Esperanto. Brazil has debated making it an optional school subject since 2009.

#Sources

• Universal Esperanto Association, Estrara Raporto 2023 (membership by country); Vikipedio, Membronombroj de UEA
• Libera Folio, "Nova takso: 60.000 parolas Esperanton" (census figures), 2017
• The Spinoff, "The most buzzy data points from the just-released census" (New Zealand, 2018 census), 2019
• Vikipedio, Esperanto-instruado ĉe ELTE
• Wikipedia (hu), Eszperantó and Wikipedia (de), Esperanto (Hungarian exams)
• Pasporta Servo and Wikipedia, Pasporta Servo
• Universal Esperanto Association, list of World Congresses (our count by country); Wikipedia, World Esperanto Congress and Vikipedio, Universala Kongreso de Esperanto
• Libera Folio, "En Aruŝo venkis idealismo", 15 August 2024
• Wikipedia (de), Herzberg am Harz; Wikipedia, China Esperanto League, Japanese Esperanto Institute, Oomoto, Neutral Moresnet
• Câmara dos Deputados, PL 6162/2009
• Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa, national list of intangible cultural heritage (2014); Austrian UNESCO Commission, Esperanto culture in Austria (2026)