The Instituto Cervantes has launched its latest yearbook, Spanish in the World 2024, with the most up-to-date statistics on the language’s international presence and future projections. It shows that in 2024, for the first time, Spanish speakers worldwide will exceed 600 million people. This figure includes almost 500 million native speakers in addition to those with limited competence (around 78 million) and students (more than 24 million). The study highlights that the number of native Spanish speakers outside of Hispanic countries is more than 45 million, while the total number of Spanish speakers outside of Hispanic countries is close to 100 million, mainly due to migration. About 7% of the books published in the world are in Spanish (sixth highest).