Merge: date=April 2008 [[image:Hispanophone world map.png|350px|thumb| legend: Countries where Spanish has official status. legend: Countries and regions where Spanish is spoken without official recognition.]]

The term Hispanophone (hispanoparlante, hispanohablante or hispanófono, in Spanish) denotes Spanish-speakers and relation to the Spanish-speaking world. The word originates with the Roman name of the Iberian Peninsula, Hispania, which comprised the territory of the modern states of Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar as well as a small southern part of France.

In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The term specifically refers to people whose cultural background is primarily associated with Spain, regardless of ethnic and geographical differences. The Hispanophone culture is the legacy of the Spanish colonial empire. As a result of this empire, there are over 350 million individuals in the Americas that speak Spanish. The vast majority speak Spanish as a first language, although some indigenous groups will be more likely bilingual in Spanish and their native language; in a few instances, they may not even speak Spanish at all.

In the modern times, these Spanish-speaking peoples of the New World have adopted other cultural labels to identify themselves.Fact: date=December 2007 The term Latino, which stems from a contraction of latinoamericano (Latin American) is one example. This term, however, is defined in the Spanish language as Latin, and it is used to refer to all the Latin peoples, both from Europe and the Americas. Cultural and linguistic issues related to Spaniards are often confused with those of Mexicans or other Latin American people. While some are conscious of this issue, many of the people to whom the labels Latino or Hispanic are applied are not aware of it. As such, they often help perpetuate further misuse of these terms as racial labels instead of cultural ones, to the point that today the term is excluding the Hispanics to whom the labels originally applied.

There are an estimated 417 millionFact: date=July 2008 Hispanophones globally, making Spanish one of the most widely spoken languages in the world today. Hispanophone areas include Spain (where the language originated) and Hispanic America. There is a sizable Hispanophone minority in the United States. In the 2000 census, it comprised 10.7% of the population over the age of five - over 28 million people. There are also smaller Hispanophone groups in Canada, northern Morocco, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines (the latter three being former colonies of Spain) and in many other places, particularly large cities.