reference_notes.txt

==Formula:

The following 4 items, given the following weights for an average:

    15% : native speaker count

        Weights the list in favor of many fluent speakers.

    50% : total speaker count

        Weights the list in favor reaching people in general.

    10% : web content

        Weights the list in favor of where current web authors have felt
           compelled to provide content to reach readers for a variety
           of reasons.

    25% : country per-capita PPP GDP
       (where predominant language is fully assigned to country)

        Weights the list in favor of the economic impact of the language.

The list is sorted and then trimmed to match:

    Top N%: top entries to reach N% of total speaker count
    Top 50%: the list expanded to reach 50% of total speaker count


==Primary Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers

https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_language/all


==Secondary non-technical checks:

http://www.lei-lookup.com/#!summary
   Of the top 50%, how many are covered by the language list