URDU LANGUAGE

URDU WORLD WIDE
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There are between 60 and 80 million native speakers of standard Urdu (Khari Boli). According to the SIL Ethnologue (1999 data), Urdu اردو/Hindi is the fifth most spoken language in the world.[16] According to George Weber’s article Top Languages: The World’s 10 Most Influential Languages in Language Today, Hindi/Urdu is the fourth most spoken language in the world, with 4.7 percent of the world's population, after Mandarin, English, and Spanish.[17]
Because of Urdu's similarity to Hindi and roots in it, speakers of the two languages can usually understand one another, if both sides refrain from using specialized vocabulary. Indeed, linguists sometimes count them as being part of the same language diasystem. Some consider Urdu to be a dialect of Hindi. However, due to socio-politically reasons, they are considered as two different languages. Due to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localised in many different parts and regions of the world it is spoken in, including Pakistan itself. Urdu in Pakistan has undergone small changes and has lately incorporated and borrowed many words from Pakistani languages like Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashto, thus allowing speakers of the language in Pakistan to distinguish themselves more easily. Similarly, the Urdu spoken in India can also be distinguished into many dialects like Dakhni (Deccan) of South India, and Khariboli of the Punjab region since recent times.
In Pakistan, Urdu is initially spoken and understood by everyone, including a majority of urban dwellers in such cities as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Abbottabad, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Sargodha. It is written, spoken and used in all Provinces/Territories of Pakistan despite the fact that the people from state-to-state may have different mother-tongues, as from the fact that it is the "base language" of the country. For this reason, it is also taught as a compulsory subject up to higher secondary school in both English and Urdu medium school systems. This has produced millions of Urdu speakers from people whose mother tongue is one of the State languages of Pakistan such as Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Pothohari, Hindko, Pahari, Siraiki, and Brahui but they can read and write only Ordu. It is absorbing many words from the regional languages of Pakistan. This variation of Urdu is sometimes referred to as Pakistani Urdu. This facet changes the basis of language censuses, i.e. An Urdu speaker is one who speaks Urdu, though he or she may be a native speaker of other indigenous languages. The regional languages are also being influenced by Urdu vocabulary. There are millions of Pakistanis whose mother tongue is not Urdu, but since they have studied in Urdu medium schools, they can read and write Urdu along with their native language. Most of the nearly five million Afghan refugees of different ethnic origins (such as Pathan, Tajik, Uzbek, Hazarvi, and Turkmen) who stayed in Pakistan for over twenty-five years have also become fluent in Urdu. With such a large number of people(s) speaking Urdu, the language has in recent years acquired a peculiar Pakistani flavour further distinguishing it from the Urdu spoken by native speakers and diversifying the language even further.

Autograph and a couplet of Last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah II, dated 29th April 1844
A great number of newspapers are published in Urdu in Pakistan, including the Daily Jang, Nawa-i-Waqt, Millat, among many others (see List of newspapers in Pakistan).
In India, Urdu is spoken in places where there are large Muslim minorities or cities which were bases for Muslim Empires in the past. These include parts of Uttar Pradesh (namely Lucknow), Delhi, Moradabad, Bijnore, Rampur, Aligarh, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mysore, Patna, Ajmer, and Ahmedabad.[18] Some Indian schools teach Urdu as a first language and have their own syllabus and exams. Indian madrasahs also teach Arabic as well as Urdu. India has more than 3,000 Urdu publications including 405 daily Urdu newspapers. Newspapers such as Sahara Urdu, Daily Salar, Hindustan Express, Daily Pasban, Siasat Daily, Munsif Daily and Inqilab are published and distributed in Bengaluru, Mysore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai (see List of newspapers in India).
Outside South Asia, it is spoken by large numbers of migrant South Asian workers in the major urban centres of the Persian Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia. Urdu is also spoken by large numbers of immigrants and their children in the major urban centres of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Germany, Norway and Australia.
Countries with large numbers of native Urdu speakers:
India (51,536,111 [2001], 5.1%)[19]
Pakistan (10,800,000 [1993], 7%)[20] (Only refers to Pakistanis with Urdu as first language, i.e people who do not additionally speak the State languages of Pakistan including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi as mother tongues- See Muhajir) Otherwise Urdu is the prime lingua franca in Pakistan and most of its 173m inhabitants speak and understand Urdu - this is true of no other country.
United Kingdom Over 400,000 (2001 est.)[21]
Bangladesh (650,000, 0.4%)[22]
United Arab Emirates (600,000, 13%[citation needed])
Saudi Arabia (382,000, 1.5%)[23]
Nepal (375,000, 1.3%)
United States (350,000, 0.1%)
Afghanistan (320,000, 8%)
South Africa (170,000 South Asian Muslims, some of which may speak Urdu)[24]
Canada (156,415 [2006], 0.5%)[25]
Oman (90,000, 2.8%)
Bahrain (80,000, 11.3%[citation needed])
Mauritius (74,000, 5.6%)
Qatar (70,000, 8%)
Germany (50,000)
Norway (27,700 [2006])[26]
France (20,000)
Spain (18,000 [2004])[27]
Sweden (10,000 [2001])[28]
World Total: 60,503,578[29]