Several nations, like Canada and the Philippines, use English as an official language but not the sole official language.

English in the U.S. and U.K. is only a de facto official language; these countries have no de jure official language (although some states or regions within them do). New Zealand also has English as a de facto official language, but also has two other de jure official languages (Māori and New Zealand Sign Language).

The status of English as a country's official language does not necessarily correlate with the number of English-speakers in that country. This is especially true for India and many African nations, and to a smaller extent for the Philippines.

Note that almost all of these countries are current or former colonies of the U.K. (see also British Empire). One exception is the Philippines, which is a former colony of Spain and the United States. American Samoa, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also currently US territories, while the Northen Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico are US commonwealths.

The latter was also a former Spanish colony for over 400 years before it and the Philippines were transferred to US control in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War. English is a co-official language in Puerto Rico, however more than 90% of the population solely uses Spanish at home and work on an everyday basis.

These nations total 2,135 million people, 15,583,152 square miles and about 18 trillion US dollars in GDP. India represents over half this population, and the United States represents over half this GDP.