Francization

Francization or Francisation (in Canadian English and American English), Frenchification (in British and also in American English), or Gallicization designates the extension of the French language by its adoption as a first language or not, adoption that can be forced upon or desired by the concerned population.

The number of Francophones (French language speakers) in the world has been rising substantially since the 1980s. In 1985, there were 106 million Francophones around the world. That number quickly rose to 173.2 million in 1997, 200 million in 2005, 220 million in 2010 (+10% from 2007). and reached 274 million in 2014, Forecasts expect that the number of French speakers in Africa alone will reach 400 million in 2025, 715 million (Readjusted in 2010) by 2050 and reach 1 billion and 222 million in 2060(Readjusted in 2013). the worldwide French speaking population is expected to multiply by a factor of 4, whereas the world population is predicted to multiply by a factor of only 1.5.

According to the OIF, the figure of 220 million Francophones is "sous-évalué" or under-evaluated because it only counts people that can write, understand and speak French fluently, thus excluding a large part of the countdown of the African population that does not know how to write.

French is also the language in which the relative share of speakers is the world's fastest growing.

The French Conseil économique, social et environnemental estimate that if the population that does not know how to write would be included as francophones, then the total number of French speakers passed the 500 million in the year 2000.

In 2014, a study from the renowned Natixis Bank, showed that French will become the world's most spoken language by 2050. However critics of the study state that French coexists with other languages in many countries and that the estimations of the study are greatly overstated.

Out of 53 countries, Africa has 32 French-speaking countries, more than half; French is also the most widely spoken language in Africa in 2015.

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