World Language Map

Languages spoken in Bhutan

32 living languages are mapped in Bhutan. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Dzongkha (47% of the population). They belong to 3 language families, the largest being Sino-Tibetan (27 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 Bhutan at a glance

  • 32living languages
  • 3language families
  • 885,000people (CLDR estimate)
  • 5with a CLDR share

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

Languages spoken in Bhutan

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
DzongkhaSino-Tibetan47%415,737Threatened
NepaliIndo-European17%150,373Not endangered
TshanglaSino-Tibetan15%132,682Threatened
EnglishIndo-European11%97,300Not endangered
LepchaSino-Tibetan3.9%34,497Moribund
AssameseIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Bodo-MechSino-TibetanThreatened
Bori-KarkoSino-TibetanNot endangered
BrokpakeSino-TibetanShifting
BumthangkhaSino-TibetanThreatened
ChalikhaSino-TibetanShifting
ChocangacakhaSino-TibetanThreatened
DakpakhaSino-TibetanThreatened
DamuSino-TibetanShifting
Dur BrokkatSino-TibetanShifting
DzalakhaSino-TibetanThreatened
GongdukSino-TibetanShifting
GromaSino-TibetanThreatened
GurungSino-TibetanShifting
HindiIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Kalaktang MonpaSino-TibetanNot endangered
KhengkhaSino-TibetanThreatened
KurtokhaSino-TibetanThreatened
LakhaSino-TibetanShifting
LayakhaSino-TibetanThreatened
LhokpuSino-TibetanShifting
LunanakhaSino-TibetanThreatened
OlekhaSino-TibetanNearly extinct
SantaliAustroasiaticThreatened
ThangmiSino-TibetanShifting
TibetanSino-TibetanNot endangered
Upper MangdepSino-TibetanThreatened

Read more: where is Dzongkha spoken?

Language families in Bhutan

About these numbers

The list of languages in Bhutan 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 Bhutan

How many languages are spoken in Bhutan?

32 living languages are mapped in Bhutan, from 3 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 Bhutan?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Dzongkha is spoken by 47% of the population, about 415,737 people, followed by Nepali (17%). 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 Bhutan?

Sino-Tibetan (27 languages), Indo-European (4 languages) and Austroasiatic (1 language).

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