"Esperanto is a language which combines the most useful, poetic,scientific, and easy-to-learn aspects of several different languages, and was offered to the world in the hopes of achieving world peace. It is also one of the 157 languages in the world with more than a million speakers.
If one counts the 15 million speakers who have some capability in it, Esperanto becomes one of the 55 languages with more than 10 million users, a fact which ranks it among the top 2% of the world's languages. Public opinion polls at various times and places in Europe have shown 80% support for the idea of a universal second language....
Other indications of the relative strength of the Esperanto movement are evident in its radio broadcasts in almost 20 countries, 50 periodicals published in about 30 countries, and it's network of almost 2000 [official contact persons] in 60 countries."
--excerpted from "The Significance of Esperanto -- A Universal Language" by JE Esslemont, Alaska Bahai News, April 1994