World Language Map

Languages spoken in Israel

28 living languages are mapped in Israel. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Modern Hebrew (100% of the population). They belong to 4 language families, the largest being Afro-Asiatic (17 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 Israel at a glance

  • 28living languages
  • 4language families
  • 9.4 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 12with a CLDR share

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

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
Modern HebrewAfro-Asiatic100%9,402,620Not endangered
EnglishIndo-European85%7,992,227Not endangered
Standard ArabicAfro-Asiatic20%1,880,524Not endangered
Levantine ArabicAfro-Asiatic17%1,598,445Not endangered
RussianIndo-European11%1,034,288Not endangered
RomanianIndo-European3.7%347,897Not endangered
Eastern YiddishIndo-European3%282,079Not endangered
PolishIndo-European1.5%141,039Not endangered
LadinoIndo-European1.3%122,234Not endangered
HungarianUralic1%94,026Not endangered
AmharicAfro-Asiatic0.6%55,475Not endangered
TigrinyaAfro-Asiatic0.1%10,343Not endangered
Barzani Jewish Neo-AramaicAfro-AsiaticNearly extinct
BukharicIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
DomariIndo-EuropeanMoribund
Eastern Egyptian Bedawi ArabicAfro-AsiaticNot endangered
Egyptian ArabicAfro-AsiaticNot endangered
HulauláAfro-AsiaticShifting
Judeo-Iraqi ArabicAfro-AsiaticNot endangered
Judeo-Moroccan ArabicAfro-AsiaticNot endangered
Judeo-TatIndo-EuropeanThreatened
Judeo-Tripolitanian ArabicAfro-AsiaticThreatened
Judeo-Yemeni ArabicAfro-AsiaticThreatened
Lishana DeniAfro-AsiaticShifting
Lishanid NoshanAfro-AsiaticMoribund
Lishán DidánAfro-AsiaticShifting
Najdi ArabicAfro-AsiaticNot endangered
West CircassianAbkhaz-AdygeThreatened

Read more: where is Modern Hebrew spoken?

Language families in Israel

About these numbers

The list of languages in Israel 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 Israel

How many languages are spoken in Israel?

28 living languages are mapped in Israel, 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 Israel?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Modern Hebrew is spoken by 100% of the population, about 9,402,620 people, followed by English (85%). 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 Israel?

Afro-Asiatic (17 languages), Indo-European (9 languages), Uralic (1 language) and Abkhaz-Adyge (1 language).

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