Official languages of the United Nations

The official languages of the United Nations are the six languages used in UN meetings and in which the UN writes all its official documents.[1]

For the United Nations to select a language to be official, a majority of the 193 members need to vote in favor of it. Afterward, it's up to the country(ies) of the new language to help financially support the translation and interpretation services.[2] Of the six languages, four are the official language or national language of permanent members in the Security Council:

• Chinese (Mandarin Chinese in simplified Chinese characters) – due to the official language of the People's Republic of China, and also for being the language with the largest number of native speakers.[3]
• English (British English with Oxford spelling)[4] – due to the majority and de facto official language of the United Kingdom and the United States. It is also the most popular language, lingua franca, and a majority or official language in 58 countries and 31 non-sovereign territories, especially those within the Commonwealth of Nations.
• French – due to the official language of France.
• Russian – due to the official language of the Russian Federation.

While the remaining two languages are official due to the large number of their speakers:

• Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic) – due to it being the official or de facto national language of several countries in the Middle East and North Africa and used in the Arab world.
• Spanish – due to being the official or de facto national language in several countries in the Americas (mainly Hispanic America), although original country Spain is not a permanent member.