There are 20 independent countries where Spanish is an official or national language, plus 1 territory (Puerto Rico) where it is also an official language.

Core answer

Most up-to-date references group Spanish as an official language in 20 sovereign states across Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

These 20 are:

  • Spain
  • Mexico
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • El Salvador
  • Nicaragua
  • Costa Rica
  • Panama
  • Cuba
  • Dominican Republic
  • Colombia
  • Venezuela
  • Ecuador
  • Peru
  • Bolivia
  • Paraguay
  • Chile
  • Argentina
  • Uruguay
  • Equatorial Guinea (the only one in Africa)

Many educational and forum-style explanations also include Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory) in the count, which is why you may sometimes see claims of “21 Spanish-speaking countries.”

Tiny nuance: 20 vs 21

  • If the question is strictly about independent countries , the accurate number is 20.
  • If you follow some teaching resources that treat Puerto Rico as a “country” for language purposes, you’ll see 21 listed (20 countries + Puerto Rico).

For SEO/meta description style:

Meta description: Learn how many countries have Spanish as their official or national language, why sources sometimes say 20 vs 21, and which nations and territories are included in today’s Spanish-speaking world.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.