Ethnologue Insights
Coronavirus and Local Languages: How do you say, "wash your hands"?
All of us are at risk. But for millions who speak a lesser-known language, that risk is compounded by the lack of health materials in a language they understand.
How many children lack access to education in their first language?
Learning is crucial to human flourishing. However, research shows that more than one third of the world's children spend their school days in classrooms where the language of instruction is not the language they use at home.
How many languages are endangered?
A language becomes endangered when its users begin to teach and speak a more dominant langauge to their children. We look at the number of endangered languages in the world today.
How many languages are there in the world?
Thousands of languages are spoken today. We dig into exactly how many there are, where they're from, their average size, and the 10 countries with the most languages.
What are the largest language families?
Of the 142 different language families, six stand out as the major language families of the world. They can be found throughout the world, spreading uniquely to different regions and countries.
What are the top 200 most spoken languages?
For over 15 years, we've published a list fo the largest languages in the world – often cited by top-tier publications. The Ethnologue 200 are the top 200 most spoken languages, accounting for most of the world's population.
What continents have the most indigenous languages?
Myriad factors – terrain, cultural history, the spread of ancient civilizations – play into how many languages have originated within a certain area.
What countries have the most languages?
Languages are spread unequally throughout the world. We detail the ten countries where the most languages are spoken today, including all established and immigrant languages.
What is the most spoken language?
We factor in both native and non-native speakers to determine the largest language in the world. Also includes our current list of the world's four most spoken languages.