Some 23 million people worldwide speak Dutch on a daily basis, according to research by language lobby group Taalunie.

In total, some form of Dutch is spoken in 18 countries, Taalunie says. For example, in the region of Dunkirk (dune church) in France, people speak a Dutch dialect, and Namibian Afrikaans is also a living language.
In the former colony of Surinam, Dutch is the first language of 60% of the population but an estimated 90% can speak it, Taalunie said.