Arabic is a widely spoken language, particularly in northern Africa and the Middle East, with approximately 290 million native speakers worldwide. Many countries in the Middle East and North Africa have this as their official or co-official language. The Arabic alphabet, Arabic Braille, Syriac alphabet (Garshuni), Hebrew alphabet (Judaeo-Arabic), and Greek alphabet are all used in the writing system of the Islamic world (Cypriot Maronite Arabic). The Arabic language family is descended from Afro-Asian, which is the official language of 27 countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
| Country | Native Speakers | Influence | Other main language spoken |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | 34,895,000 | Official | |
| Bahrain | 807,000 | Official | |
| Chad | 10,329,208 | Co-official language | French |
| Comoros | 691,000 | Co-official language | French and Comorian |
| Djibouti | 864,000 | Co-official language | French |
| Egypt | 79,089,650 | Official | |
| Eritrea | 5,224,000 | Co-official language | English and Tigrinya |
| Iraq | 31,234,000 | Co-official language | Kurdish |
| Israel | 7,653,600 | Co-official language | Hebrew |
| Jordan | 6,407,085 | Official | |
| Kuwait | 3,566,437 | Official | |
| Lebanon | 4,224,000 | Official | |
| Libya | 6,420,000 | Official | |
| Mauritania | 3,291,000 | Official | |
| Morocco | 32,200,000 | Co-official language | Berber |
| Oman | 2,845,000 | Official | |
| Palestine | 4,260,636 | Official | |
| Qatar | 1,696,563 | Official | |
| Saudi Arabia | 25,731,776 | Official | |
| Somalia | 9,359,000 | Co-official language | Somali |
| Sudan | 43,939,598 | Co-official language | English |
| Syria | 22,505,000 | Official | |
| Tunisia | 10,432,500 | Official | |
| United Arab Emirates | 4,975,593 | Official | |
| Yemen | 23,580,000 | Official |
