Quote Originally Posted by Bucko View Post
I think you misunderstood me. This is the part I had a problem with - "400 million live in English-speaking countries - but probably 1/3 of those are not native speakers of English, as English-speaking countries are predominantly".
So you're saying that 33.33% of people living in America, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, and Canada are not native English speakers? I've already proved that perhaps only 18% of Australians are non-native English speakers (almost half your figure).
Yes, but the USA alone, by far the most populous English-speaking country, has 85 million non-native English speakers (29% of the population). In Canada, only 17 of the 30 million inhabitants have English as their first language, so 43% are non-native English speakers.

About 10% of people in the UK are non-native speakers of English, which is probably the lowest proportion of non-native of any English-speaking country.

If we add South Africa or Singapore, which are predominantly English-speaking countries (main language of government and education), the proportion of native speakers is actually quite small (maybe less than 10% of native English speakers). So it all depends what we include in "English-speaking countries".

For the USA, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia alone, there are about 107 million non native speakers of English for a total population of about 410 million. That is just 26%. You are right, that is not 1/3, but that was a rough estimation without calculating (just gut-feeling). I wasn't so far from the truth though... In North America (USA + Canada) the proportion is 30%. If you count the number of second-generation immigrant whose parents are non-native speakers, but who consider English as their mother-tongue despite speaking with many mistakes (learnt from their parents), I think we are well over 33%.