This Indian city has the most number of English speakers in the world, reveals BBC show

A clip of the show, Quite Interesting (QI), aired in 2013 was shared on X on Tuesday. The British comedy game show is hosted by Sandi Toksvig. (Image credit: Unsplash, QI)

A BBC television show has revealed that Mumbai has beaten all the cities in the UK to have the most English speakers in the world. Moreover, in terms of population of English speakers, the UK only comes sixth worldwide, presenter Sandi Toksvig said in the British comedy panel game quiz show Quite Interesting (QI).

A clip of the show aired last year but shared recently on X, showed British guest and comedian Sara Pascoe saying "I think we speak it best," when asked if the UK has the number one city for English speakers.

"In fact, in terms of population of English speakers, the UK only comes sixth worldwide. That is colonialism for you," remarked Toksvig.

Which city has the most French speakers? pic.twitter.com/Vf3q0092ZP
Quite Interesting (@qikipedia) October 7, 2024

The clip also sparked a discussion on Reddit. Several users said that Mumbai having the most number of English speakers in the world was believable because of its large population.

"Most of the jobs in Mumbai require a working knowledge of English. Mumbai has to be the city with the highest number of multilingual people in the world. Everyone knows at least 3 languages," commented Reddit user StrainProfessional44. Another user Purple-Ad3561 wrote, "It's totally believable just because of the large population we have. India could easily be the largest English-speaking country in the world. However, % of English speakers would be a better metric for such comparisons."

A few users also pointed how the regional language, Marathi, was thriving despite the push to use English and Hindi.

"I am surprised no one mentioned it but Mumbai is the only true cosmopolitan city in this country," said Reddit user scmmishra. "You have people from practically every corner of India in this city, and when this happens a single language usually becomes a baseline, English and Hindi are most common denominators here. On another note, I love that Marathi is still thriving amidst all this."