World Language Map

Languages spoken in Bangladesh

53 living languages are mapped in Bangladesh. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Bengali (98% of the population). They belong to 4 language families, the largest being Sino-Tibetan (25 languages).

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The filter only changes what is drawn. Tap the map to list every language at a spot, whichever family is shown. You can also pick any family from its own page.

Key

Language families (largest ten)

  • Atlantic-Congo
  • Austronesian
  • Sino-Tibetan
  • Indo-European
  • Afro-Asiatic
  • Nuclear Trans New Guinea
  • Otomanguean
  • Austroasiatic
  • Tai-Kadai
  • Pama-Nyungan

Everything else

  • All other families Smaller families, isolates and unclassified languages.
  • Point A language with no area map. The dot sits at its Glottolog position, in its family colour.

How to read the map. Each colour is a language family: a group of languages that share a common ancestor. The ten largest families have their own colour and every other family is grey. Areas are see-through, so where two languages share a place the colours mix. Tap anywhere to list every language whose area covers that spot. Areas are generalisations drawn from published atlases, many of them decades old, and cities are multilingual, so an area never says that everyone there speaks the language. A dot marks a language that has no area map. The family name is always given in words, because colour alone is hard to tell apart for some people.

Languages of Bangladesh at a glance

  • 53living languages
  • 4language families
  • 168.7 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 7with a CLDR share

Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in Bangladesh. Areas are generalisations from published atlases and overlap, and a language that is mapped here is not necessarily spoken everywhere inside its area.

The 40 most widely spoken languages in Bangladesh

Languages with a Unicode CLDR share come first, biggest first by estimated speakers; the rest follow A to Z. Estimated speakers are the share applied to CLDR’s own population figure for the country.

LanguageFamilyShare of populationEstimated speakersStatus
BengaliIndo-European98%165,323,060Not endangered
EnglishIndo-European18%30,365,460Not endangered
Central-Eastern KamtaIndo-European6.5%10,965,305Not endangered
SylhetiIndo-European5%8,434,850Not endangered
RohingyaIndo-European0.5%894,094Not endangered
ChakmaIndo-European0.2%371,133Not endangered
BurmeseSino-Tibetan0.2%354,264Not endangered
AnalSino-TibetanShifting
Asho ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
AssameseIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Atong (India)Sino-TibetanShifting
Bangladesh LyngamAustroasiaticNot endangered
Bawm ChinSino-TibetanThreatened
Bishnupriya ManipuriIndo-EuropeanThreatened
ChakSino-TibetanThreatened
ChittagonianIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
DarlongSino-TibetanNot endangered
Eastern PanjabiIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Falam ChinSino-TibetanThreatened
GaroSino-TibetanThreatened
GujaratiIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
HajongIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Haka ChinSino-TibetanShifting
HindiIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
KhasiAustroasiaticThreatened
Khumi ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
KochSino-TibetanThreatened
KodaAustroasiaticThreatened
Kok BorokSino-TibetanThreatened
Kol (Bangladesh)AustroasiaticNot endangered
ManipuriSino-TibetanThreatened
MarmaSino-TibetanNot endangered
MizoSino-TibetanThreatened
MruSino-TibetanThreatened
MundariAustroasiaticNot endangered
NoakhaliIndo-EuropeanThreatened
Oraon SadriIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
PangkhuaSino-TibetanThreatened
PnarAustroasiaticNot endangered
RabhaSino-TibetanNot endangered

Read more: where is Bengali spoken?

Language families in Bangladesh

All 53 languages in Bangladesh, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Bangladesh comes from the overlap of Glottography and Glottolog language areas and positions with the country outline, together with the languages Glottolog assigns to the country. The shares come from Unicode CLDR release 48 and are estimates. See every source and licence.

Questions about languages in Bangladesh

How many languages are spoken in Bangladesh?

53 living languages are mapped in Bangladesh, from 4 families. The number depends on how a catalogue decides where one language ends and another begins, so other sources give other totals.

What is the most spoken language in Bangladesh?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Bengali is spoken by 98% of the population, about 165,323,060 people, followed by English (18%). Shares are approximate, can add up to more than 100% because many people speak several languages, and only cover languages CLDR has a figure for.

Which language families are found in Bangladesh?

Sino-Tibetan (25 languages), Indo-European (19 languages), Austroasiatic (8 languages) and Dravidian (1 language).

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