Languages of the World
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Language family

Atlantic-Congo

The core of the traditional Niger-Congo family and the largest family in the world by number of languages. It covers most of sub-Saharan Africa: the Bantu languages (Swahili, Zulu, Shona, Lingala, Kinyarwanda…), Yoruba, Igbo, the Akan languages, Ewe, Wolof, Fula and many more. Glottolog treats the Mande languages as a separate family.

89 languages on this site · c. 599 million speakers in total (sum of estimates, bilingual people counted more than once) · the main official language in 8 countries.

Highlighted countries: the main official language belongs to this family.

Bantu 57

  1. Swahili 194 million
  2. Nyanja 19 million
  3. Zulu 15 million
  4. Shona 14 million
  5. Kinyarwanda 12 million
  6. Luba-Lulua 11 million
  7. Xhosa 11 million
  8. Umbundu 11 million
  9. Kikuyu 9.9 million
  10. Kimbundu 9.3 million
  11. Rundi 8.6 million
  12. Bemba 7.1 million
  13. Southern Sotho 7.0 million
  14. Tswana 6.5 million
  15. Luyia 6.4 million
  16. Ganda 6.4 million
  17. Sukuma 5.9 million
  18. Northern Sotho 5.7 million
  19. Tsonga 5.3 million
  20. Kamba 4.4 million
  21. Ndau 4.3 million
  22. Makhuwa 4.3 million
  23. Lingala 4.0 million
  24. Nyankole 3.1 million
  25. Gusii 2.9 million
  26. Chiga 2.7 million
  27. Luba-Katanga 2.7 million
  28. Soga 2.6 million
  29. Tumbuka 2.4 million
  30. Swati 2.3 million
  31. Meru 2.3 million
  32. Tonga (Zambia) 2.3 million
  33. Mozambique Lomwe 2.3 million
  34. Nyamwezi 2.2 million
  35. North Ndebele 2.1 million
  36. Kongo 1.7 million
  37. Makonde 1.7 million
  38. Sena 1.5 million
  39. Makhuwa-Meetto 1.5 million
  40. Venda 1.5 million
  41. Masaaba 1.4 million
  42. Bulu 1.4 million
  43. Bena 1.1 million
  44. Shambala 1.1 million
  45. Lozi 1.1 million
  46. Ronga 1.1 million
  47. Manyika 1.1 million
  48. Kuanyama 981 thousand
  49. South Ndebele 967 thousand
  50. Fang 916 thousand
  51. Kalanga 909 thousand
  52. Ndonga 589 thousand
  53. Ngazidja Comorian 333 thousand
  54. Ndzwani Comorian 306 thousand
  55. Herero 255 thousand
  56. Punu 221 thousand
  57. Bube 142 thousand

Atlantic 12

  1. Hausa States Fulfulde 16 million
  2. Wolof 13 million
  3. Fula 9.0 million
  4. Serer 2.1 million
  5. Central-Eastern Niger Fulfulde 1.8 million
  6. Maasina Fulfulde 1.7 million
  7. Jola-Fonyi 490 thousand
  8. Mandjak 145 thousand
  9. Balanta-Ganja 115 thousand
  10. Mankanya 95 thousand
  11. Bassari-Tanda 18 thousand
  12. Bedik 3.4 thousand

Defoid (Yoruboid) 1

  1. Yoruba 32 million

Igboid 1

  1. Igbo 31 million

Kwa 7

  1. Akan 13 million
  2. Ewe 5.3 million
  3. Fon 3.7 million
  4. Baoulé 3.3 million
  5. Abron 1.7 million
  6. Adangme 1.0 million
  7. Ga 968 thousand

Gur 2

  1. Mossi 9.2 million
  2. Frafra 1.2 million

Cross River 2

  1. Efik 3.3 million
  2. Ibibio 3.3 million

No separate branch 3

  1. Tiv 3.8 million
  2. Saafi-Saafi 283 thousand
  3. Noon 45 thousand

Ubangian 1

  1. Sango 2.8 million

Mel 1

  1. Timne 2.4 million

Edoid 1

  1. Bini 1.7 million

Senufo 1

  1. Senari 1.3 million

Classification: Glottolog (CC BY 4.0). Branches are selected nodes of the Glottolog tree.