oken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Roman Gaul and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian. French is an official language in 29 countries, most of which form la francophonie (in French), the community of French-speaking countries. It is spoken as a first language in France, Haiti, Monaco and in parts of Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, and the US (notably in parts of Louisiana and New England region), and by various communities elsewhere. According to a survey of the European Commission, French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union. It is also the third-most widely understood language in the EU. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism during the 17th and 20th centuries, French was introduced to colonies in the Americas, Africa and Asia. Most second language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Mauritius, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. French is estimated to have around 73.8 million native speakers; and including native speakers, there are around 338 million people that are able to speak it. According to a demographic projection led by the Université Laval and the Réseau Démographie de l'Agence universitaire de la francophonie, total French speakers will number approximately 500 million people in 2025 and 650 million people by 2050. It is an official language of many international organisations including the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the WTO and the ICRC. In 2011, French was deemed by Bloomberg Businessweek to be one of the top three most useful languages for business, behind English and Chinese.
