Is the US the fourth largest Spanish speaking population in the world?

The answer to this question will always depend on your source of data and date of sampling. With the current Immigration debate, one often hears the number of Hispanics in the USA at about 35 million individuals and this is confirmed by the US Census data through 2000. Time has passed though and these numbers are estimated to be closer to 40 million.

Mexico clearly holds the top spot with at least 90 million people. According to the University of Illinois at Springfield, the U.S. is behind Mexico and Colombia in total Spanish speaking population and trails closely behind Spain and Argentina, to take the 5th position overall.

This question will need to be revisited soon as the emigration to the USA, of Spanish speakers, should continue to grow the Spanish speaking population in the USA by a rapid clip.