World Language Map

Languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

239 living languages are mapped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is French (51% of the population). They belong to 5 language families, the largest being Atlantic-Congo (212 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo at a glance

  • 239living languages
  • 5language families
  • 115.4 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 8with a CLDR share

Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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
FrenchIndo-European51%58,855,530Not endangered
SwahiliAtlantic-Congo50%57,701,500Not endangered
Luba-LuluaAtlantic-Congo9.6%11,078,688Not endangered
Kinshasa LingalaAtlantic-Congo3.1%3,577,493Not endangered
Luba-KatangaAtlantic-Congo2.3%2,654,269Threatened
South-Central KoongoAtlantic-Congo1.5%1,731,045Not endangered
MongoAtlantic-Congo0.6%703,958Not endangered
KinyarwandaAtlantic-Congo0.4%438,531Not endangered
AliAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
AlurNiloticNot endangered
Amba (Uganda)Atlantic-CongoThreatened
AsoaCentral SudanicNot endangered
AushiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
AvokayaCentral SudanicNot endangered
BabangoAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Baka (South Sudan)Central SudanicNot endangered
Bali (Democratic Republic of Congo)Atlantic-CongoNot endangered
BaloboAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BamweAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Banda-BambariAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Banda-BandaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BangalaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BangbaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BangubanguAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BarambuAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BeekeAtlantic-CongoShifting
Bemba (Zambia)Atlantic-CongoNot endangered
BembeAtlantic-CongoShifting
BendiCentral SudanicNot endangered
BeraAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BheleAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BilaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BinjiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BobangiAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BoguruAtlantic-CongoShifting
Boko (Democratic Republic of Congo)Atlantic-CongoNot endangered
BoliaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BolokiAtlantic-CongoShifting
BolondoAtlantic-CongoShifting
Boma NkuuAtlantic-CongoThreatened

Read more: where is French spoken?

Language families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

All 239 languages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo

How many languages are spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

239 living languages are mapped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 5 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, French is spoken by 51% of the population, about 58,855,530 people, followed by Swahili (50%). 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Atlantic-Congo (212 languages), Central Sudanic (23 languages), Nilotic (2 languages), Indo-European (1 language) and Afro-Asiatic (1 language).

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