diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ea8f7cd7b7ff3..b67921a571a98 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@elastic/datemath": "2.3.0",
     "@elastic/filesaver": "1.1.2",
-    "@elastic/numeral": "2.2.1",
+    "@elastic/numeral": "2.3.0",
     "@elastic/test-subj-selector": "0.2.1",
     "@elastic/ui-ace": "0.2.3",
     "JSONStream": "1.1.1",
diff --git a/src/core_plugins/kibana/common/field_formats/types/_numeral.js b/src/core_plugins/kibana/common/field_formats/types/_numeral.js
index a042c4a1c72af..5bc00eea28f6c 100644
--- a/src/core_plugins/kibana/common/field_formats/types/_numeral.js
+++ b/src/core_plugins/kibana/common/field_formats/types/_numeral.js
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
 import _ from 'lodash';
 import numeral from '@elastic/numeral';
+import numeralLanguages from '@elastic/numeral/languages';
 
 const numeralInst = numeral();
 
+numeralLanguages.forEach(function (numeralLanguage) {
+  numeral.language(numeralLanguage.id, numeralLanguage.lang);
+});
+
 export function createNumeralFormat(FieldFormat, opts) {
   class NumeralFormat extends FieldFormat {
     static id = opts.id;
@@ -11,7 +16,6 @@ export function createNumeralFormat(FieldFormat, opts) {
 
     constructor(params, getConfig) {
       super(params);
-
       this.getConfig = getConfig;
     }
 
@@ -34,8 +38,14 @@ export function createNumeralFormat(FieldFormat, opts) {
 
       if (isNaN(val)) return '';
 
+      const previousLocale = numeral.language();
+      const defaultLocale = this.getConfig && this.getConfig('format:number:defaultLocale') || 'en';
+      numeral.language(defaultLocale);
+
       const formatted = numeralInst.set(val).format(this.param('pattern'));
 
+      numeral.language(previousLocale);
+
       return opts.afterConvert
         ? opts.afterConvert.call(this, formatted)
         : formatted;
diff --git a/src/core_plugins/kibana/ui_setting_defaults.js b/src/core_plugins/kibana/ui_setting_defaults.js
index 46cd81f1a234c..783bd0e4696fa 100644
--- a/src/core_plugins/kibana/ui_setting_defaults.js
+++ b/src/core_plugins/kibana/ui_setting_defaults.js
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 import moment from 'moment-timezone';
+import numeralLanguages from '@elastic/numeral/languages';
 
 export function getUiSettingDefaults() {
   const weekdays = moment.weekdays().slice();
   const [defaultWeekday] = weekdays;
+  const numeralLanguageIds = numeralLanguages.map(function (numeralLanguage) {
+    return numeralLanguage.id;
+  });
 
   // wrapped in provider so that a new instance is given to each app/test
   return {
@@ -237,6 +241,12 @@ export function getUiSettingDefaults() {
       value: '($0,0.[00])',
       description: 'Default <a href="http://numeraljs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">numeral format</a> for the "currency" format'
     },
+    'format:number:defaultLocale': {
+      value: 'en',
+      type: 'select',
+      options: numeralLanguageIds,
+      description: '<a href="http://numeraljs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numeral language</a>'
+    },
     'savedObjects:perPage': {
       type: 'number',
       value: 5,