Let’s crunch some numbers! What follows is a roundup of growth trends, from language preferences to Arabic-speakers online.
- The top three. According to Internet World Stats, there are more than 60 million Arabic-speaking people online (2009 estimate), which represents 17% of the 344 million worldwide speakers. The top three Arabic speaking countries online, in order, are: Egypt, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
- Huge online growth. Use of Arabic language on the web increased 2,297.7 % from 2000-2009 compared to world average of 399.03 %. (Internet World Stats)
- Quite a social group! There are an estimated 15 million Facebook users in the Middle East & North Africa (this figure excludes Iran, Israel, Pakistan and Turkey).
- Get Local. The social media tool Hootsuite localized its platform for Arabic speakers in 2010 – with the Arabic version reading right to left.
Read more Arabic languages statistics in the 100th issue of Global Communicator, a Global Language Solutions ePublication.
