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Between 170 and 210 million people speak Portuguese throughout the world today. Portuguese ranks eighth among the most spoken languages in the world (third among the western languages, after English and Castilian) and is the official language of seven countries: Angola (10.3 million inhabitants), Brazil (151 million), Cabo Verde (346,000), Guinea-Bissau (1 million), Mozambique (15.3 million), Portugal (9.9 million), and São Tomé and Príncipe islands (126,000).
In 1986, Portuguese became an official language in the European Union (EU), formerly the European Economic Community, when Portugal was admitted to the organization. As a result of the Mercosul agreements that created the Southern Latin American Common Market, who includes Brazil, Portuguese is being taught as a foreign language in the other member countries. In 1996, was created the
Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries
(CPLP in Portuguese). The purpose of this community is to increase cooperation and cultural exchanges among the member countries, to create a uniform Portuguese standard and to spread the language.
Visit the Department of Spanish & Portuguese
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