The United States is now the world’s second-largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, according to a new study published by the prestigious Instituto Cervantes.

The report says there are 41 million native Spanish speakers in the U.S. plus a further 11.6 million who are bilingual, mainly the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. This puts the U.S. ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).

Among the sources cited in the report is the U.S. Census Office which estimates that the U.S. will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on Earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens.

Read the article “U.S. Now Has More Spanish Speakers Than Spain” on theguardian.com.