This is a list of official languages of international organizations. Different organizations sometimes refer to their principal languages of administration and communication as "working languages", while others refer to these as being "official". No distinction is made here, except where an organization itself, distinguishes between its official and working languages.
English and French are often regarded as the symbolic official languages, although the former has gained prominence in recent years.
International According to a recent study of multilingualism in 13 major international organizations (Commonwealth, ICC, ILO, IMF, IOC, IPU, ITU, OECD, UN, UPU, WB, WHO, and WTO), English is an official language in almost all (12). This is followed by French (10); Spanish (6); and Arabic, Chinese, and Russian (3 each). Interpretation is offered in Japanese and German as well for 2 organizations.
The six official languages of the United Nations reflects the languages of the permanent members of the Security Council (Chinese, English, French, and Russian), in addition to Arabic and Spanish. Another study found that the percentage of each language used at each United Nations meeting in 2010 was distributed as follows: English (98%), French (87%), Spanish (34%), Russian (10%), Arabic (7%), and Chinese (3%).
The following is a list of major international and inter-governmental organizations.
Institutions Languages Amnesty International Portuguese, Arabic, English, French and Spanish Antarctic Treaty Secretariat (ATS) English, French, Spanish and Russian Bank for International Settlements (BIS) English, French, German and Spanish Commonwealth of Nations English Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) Portuguese FIFA Arabic, English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish Holy See Latin (official), Italian (administrative and diplomatic) and French (diplomatic) International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish International Criminal Court (ICC) Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish (English and French are working languages) International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) Arabic, English, French and Spanish International Energy Agency (IEA) English International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) English, French and Spanish International Labour Organization (ILO/OIT) English, French and Spanish International Monetary Fund (IMF) English (interpretation into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) International Olympic Committee (IOC/CIO) French and English (with simultaneous interpretation provided for Arabic, German, Russian, and Spanish) International Organization for Standardization (ISO) English, French and Russian International Telecommunication Union (ITU) English, French and Spanish International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) English, French and Spanish Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) French and English (with conferences also having simultaneous interpretation into Arabic and Spanish) Latin Union (activities have been suspended since 2012) Catalan, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian Médecins Sans Frontières Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD/OCDE) English and French Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) French Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) Spanish and Portuguese Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC/OCI) Arabic, English and French Red Cross Arabic, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese and German Rotary International English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) English, French, and Spanish United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish United Nations (UN/ONU) Under the Charter, the official languages are Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish as well as Arabic which was added in 1973. See also: Official languages of the United Nations. Universal Postal Union (UPU) French (official) and English (working). Other languages translated: Arabic, Chinese, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish World Bank (WB) English (with conferences also having simultaneous interpretation into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) World Customs Organization English, French, and Spanish (with translation offered into Arabic and Russian) World Health Organization (WHO) Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Korean World Trade Organization (WTO/OMC) English, French and Spanish African Development Bank English, French African Union (AU/UA) Arabic, French, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) Arabic Arab League Arabic Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) English Asian Development Bank (ADB) English Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) English Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) English (working language), Burmese, Filipino, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese Benelux Dutch and FrenchTREATY REVISING THE TREATY ESTABLISHING THE BENELUX ECONOMIC UNION SIGNED ON 3 FEBRUARY 1958 Art. 38 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) English, French, Dutch and Spanish Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) English Central American Common Market (CACM) Spanish Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) English, French and Portuguese Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Russian Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) Arabic Council of Europe English and French East African Community (EAC) English, French and Swahili Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS/CEDEAO) English, French and Portuguese Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) French, Portuguese and Spanish Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) Russian Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) Russian European Space Agency (ESA) English, French and German European Union (EU/UE) 24 official languages with three of these — English, French and German — being working languages of some internal EU bodies such as the European Commission Group of Seven (G7), formerly the Group of Eight (G8) English, French, German, Italian and Japanese Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arabic Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) English Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Arabic, with French and English as working languages Mercosur/Mercosul Guarani, Portuguese and Spanish. New Development Bank (NDB) English Nordic Investment Bank (NDB) English Nordic Council (NC) Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish (working languages) North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO/OTAN) English and French. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) English Organization of American States (OAS/OEA) Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. See also: Official languages of the Organization of American States Pacific Islands Forum English Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Chinese and Russian. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) English South Pacific Commission (SPC) English and French Southern African Development Community (SADC) English, French and Portuguese (working languages) Union of South American Nations (Unasul-Unasur) Dutch, English, Portuguese and Spanish United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA; superseded NAFTA) English, Spanish and French.
Defunct Institutions Languages Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) Russian League of Nations English and French Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) Czech, German, Polish and Russian
See also List of official languages by country and territory Working language List of international organisations which have French as an official language List of international organisations which have Portuguese as an official language
Further reading Elena Aronova, "Russian and the Making of World Languages during the Cold War," Link
References
External links World Auxiliary Language Campaign Facts page