Which is the most common first language in the world?

According to Ethnologue (2019, 22nd edition), the language having the largest number of native speakers is Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin Chinese is the native language of 918 million people, representing 11.922 % of the total population of the world (as of March 2019).

Below is the list of the most common first languages in the word:

1. Mandarin Chinese - 918 million speakers, 11.922 % of world population

2. Spanish - 480 million speakers, 5.994 % of world population

3. English - 379 million speakers, 4.922 % of world population

4. Hindi (Sanskritised Hindustani) - 341 million speakers, 4.429% of world population

5. Bengali - 228 million speakers, 2.961 % of world population

6. Portuguese - 221 millions speakers, 2.870 % of world population

7. Russian - 154 million speakers, 2 % of world population

8. Japanese - 128 millions speakers, 1.662 % of world population

9. Western Punjabi - 92.7 million speakers, 1.204 % of world population

10. Marathi - 83.1 million speakers, 1.079 % of world population