There are 15 African countries that count French as their first language and a total of 26 that count it among their first or second language.
With an estimated 120 million people speaking French at some level across Africa, the continent has more French speakers than anywhere else on the planet.
West Africa is unquestionably the hub of French speakers on the continent, but the Francophone influence stretches all the way across Africa to the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles.
Of all the Francophone African countries, the French language is most prolific in Gabon, where 80 percent of the population speaks French as its first language.
In North African countries such as Morocco and Tunisia, French has long been used as the first language among the elite, and a symbol of personal wealth.
In each of the francophone African countries, the dialect is slightly different and often accommodates local slang incorporated from the local languages of the country.
Despite the use of slang there are three main categories of African French all of which sound different from standard French.
The French spoken in Western Central and East African nations is the most prolific of the three main categories, with around 75-million first- and second-language speakers.
The dialect spoken by the Arabs and Berbers in Northwest Africa is also different. It is spoken by around 36 million people.
Creole French is the third of the three dialects and is used in the Indian Ocean Islands of Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius and Seychelles. It is spoken by about 1.6 million first- and second-language speakers.
