How many speaks russian

This estimate is likely high, however, because it factors in many populations that are ancestrally Russian, but which might not speak the language anymore.

Counting only native speakers, there are roughly million. Among first languages, Russian accounts for 2. The Russian language first touched the shores of the modern-day United States in the 18th century, when Russian explorers arrived in Alaska. Since this time, various groups of immigrants have scattered across the United States.

Today, there are roughly , Russian speakers in the United States out of our total population of million, according to census data. The state of New York is home to the majority of Americans who speak Russian, with roughly 30 percent of the population.

There are also over , Russian speakers in California, followed distantly by New Jersey and Illinois, which each have about 40, Russian speakers. Russian speakers number roughly million in Russia, followed in popularity by Ukraine It is one of two state languages in the small Central European country and stands alongside Belarussian as the other state language.

According to the constitution of Belarus, the two languages are equal to each other. The Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine in led to the annexation of Crimea followed by the outbreak of a brutal civil war in the Donbass region. The civil war saw separatists take on the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

It is a self-proclaimed state situated in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly independent and majority Romanian speaking Moldova erupted into a civil war with the ethnic Russian population on the right side of the Dniester river.

The war resulted in the formation of the separatist state of Transnistria, a Russian speaking territory that remains an unrecognized country to this day heavily supported by Russia. The war over Transnistria was largely fought over two things, language and culture.

As a result, Russian is the primary language spoken in the territory today. However, alongside Russian there are two other official state languages of Transnistria: Ukrainian and Romanian, in order to represent the non-Russian minorities who live in the republic.

Last but by no means least, is the motherland of the Russian language: The Russian Federation! Originally, spoken Russian was based on the language spoken by the tribes inhabiting the territory of Kievan Rus. But it was only after adopting the Christian faith that the writing system for Russian was formed through the Cyrillic alphabet in the 9th Century. Created by Cyril and Methodius, Cyrillic soon spread across the Slavic world and developed into what is in use today across multiple modern countries.

Whilst the citizenry speak Russian as the official language, there are estimated to be over languages spoken in modern Russia. His passion is opening obscure destinations to tourism and sharing his experience of street food. See author's posts. Which countries speak Russian? The vast majority of Russians speak the Russian language. Most Belarusians speak Russian, and some consider it their primary language.

Both Russian and Belarusian enjoy official status, but Russian is dominant in entertainment, education and many other facets of daily life. Kazakhstan is a diverse Central Asian nation with approximately ethnic groups. This includes a sizeable Russian population that has made the language quite common in the country.

Many residents use it as the main language at home and work, and the vast majority of the population speaks at least some Russian. The Russian language enjoys official status in Kyrgyzstan alongside Kyrgyz. A relatively small portion of the population considers Russian their native language, but many others speak it fluently as their second language.

Russian is commonly used for both business and high-level government discussions. Ukraine is home to the largest population of Russian speakers outside of Russia. So, how many exactly? And worldwide?

Are most countries that speak Russian in the former Soviet republics? Subscribe to our newsletter! Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox. We've got more than 2,2 million followers on Facebook. Join them! Read more. Accept cookies.