# How many speak English?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-speak-english/25535>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [July 14, 2000, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-speak-english/25535 "2000-07-14T06:52:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2000, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-speak-english/25535/21 "2000-07-19T00:17:16Z")

</div>

ren wrote:

> [@](#):
>
> Even so, assuming that another 530 million people acquired English in the last 30 years is a stretch…

Actually, it isn’t so much of a stretch. **But,** this figure does not account for the fact that many pre-existing English speakers have **died** in the last 30 years, too.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-speak-english/25535.md?page=1)