Which language has the most native speakers worldwide, according to Ethnologue estimates?

Mandarin Chinese has the most native speakers worldwide according to widely cited Ethnologue estimates.

Mandarin is a group of related Sinitic varieties, not a single perfectly uniform spoken language. Standard Mandarin, known as Putonghua in mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, is based largely on the pronunciation and grammar of the Beijing area. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Mandarin is written using Chinese characters, while learners and institutions often use Hanyu Pinyin to represent pronunciation with the Latin alphabet. Standard Mandarin has four main lexical tones plus a neutral tone, so pitch can change a word’s meaning.

Its large native-speaking population is concentrated mainly in China and Taiwan, with significant communities elsewhere. Rankings can differ depending on whether researchers count native speakers only or combine native and second-language speakers. English leads many measures of total speakers, but Mandarin generally leads measures restricted to first-language speakers.