World Language Map

Languages spoken in India

456 living languages are mapped in India. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Hindi (41% of the population). They belong to 8 language families, the largest being Sino-Tibetan (187 languages). 4 are language isolates, with no known relatives.

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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 India at a glance

  • 456living languages
  • 8language families
  • 1.4 billionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 44with a CLDR share

Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in India. 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 India

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
HindiIndo-European41%579,152,430Not endangered
EnglishIndo-European19%267,734,700Not endangered
BengaliIndo-European8.1%114,139,530Not endangered
TeluguDravidian7.2%101,457,360Not endangered
MarathiIndo-European7%98,639,100Not endangered
TamilDravidian5.9%83,138,670Not endangered
UrduIndo-European5%70,456,500Not endangered
GujaratiIndo-European4.5%63,410,850Not endangered
KannadaDravidian3.7%52,137,810Not endangered
MalayalamDravidian3.2%45,092,160Not endangered
OdiaIndo-European3.2%45,092,160Not endangered
Eastern PanjabiIndo-European2.8%39,455,640Not endangered
BhojpuriIndo-European2.3%32,409,990Not endangered
AwadhiIndo-European1.9%26,773,470Not endangered
AssameseIndo-European1.3%18,318,690Not endangered
HaryanviIndo-European1.2%16,909,560Not endangered
MagahiIndo-European1.2%16,909,560Not endangered
MaithiliIndo-European1.2%16,909,560Not endangered
Marwari (India)Indo-European1.2%16,909,560Not endangered
ChhattisgarhiIndo-European1.1%15,500,430Not endangered
KanaujiIndo-European0.6%7,891,128Threatened
NepaliIndo-European0.6%7,891,128Not endangered
SantaliAustroasiatic0.6%7,750,215Threatened
MewatiIndo-European0.5%6,481,998Not endangered
Central-Eastern KamtaIndo-European0.4%6,059,259Not endangered
KashmiriIndo-European0.4%5,777,433Not endangered
SindhiIndo-European0.4%5,636,520Not endangered
Konkan MarathiIndo-European0.4%5,213,781Not endangered
Goan KonkaniIndo-European0.3%4,509,216Not endangered
ShekhawatiIndo-European0.3%3,945,564Not endangered
GarhwaliIndo-European0.3%3,804,651Threatened
LambadiIndo-European0.3%3,804,651Not endangered
KumaoniIndo-European0.2%3,100,086Threatened
KurukhDravidian0.2%2,677,347Threatened
SadriIndo-European0.2%2,536,434Not endangered
WaddarDravidian0.2%2,536,434Not endangered
KangriIndo-European0.2%2,254,608Not endangered
KhandesiIndo-European0.2%2,113,695Not endangered
TuluDravidian0.2%2,113,695Threatened
WagdiIndo-European0.2%2,113,695Not endangered

Read more: where is Hindi spoken?

Language families in India

All 456 languages in India, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in India 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 India

How many languages are spoken in India?

456 living languages are mapped in India, from 8 families, plus 4 language isolates. 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 India?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Hindi is spoken by 41% of the population, about 579,152,430 people, followed by English (19%). 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 India?

Sino-Tibetan (187 languages), Indo-European (148 languages), Dravidian (75 languages), Austroasiatic (31 languages) and Tai-Kadai (5 languages), and 3 more.

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