World Language Map

Languages spoken in Namibia

40 living languages are mapped in Namibia. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Afrikaans (75% of the population). They belong to 5 language families, the largest being Atlantic-Congo (26 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 Namibia at a glance

  • 40living languages
  • 5language families
  • 2.8 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 8with a CLDR share

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

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
AfrikaansIndo-European75%2,102,745Not endangered
KuanyamaAtlantic-Congo35%981,281Not endangered
NdongaAtlantic-Congo21%588,769Not endangered
Nama (Namibia)Khoe-Kwadi11%308,403Threatened
HereroAtlantic-Congo9.1%255,133Threatened
EnglishIndo-European7%196,256Not endangered
GermanIndo-European0.9%25,233Not endangered
TswanaAtlantic-Congo0.6%15,700Not endangered
Central JuKxaThreatened
Central WamboAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
ChokweAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Diriku-ShambyuAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
East TaaTuuShifting
FweAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Hai//om-AkhoeKhoe-KwadiNot endangered
KgalagadiAtlantic-CongoThreatened
KwambiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KwangaliAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KxoeKhoe-KwadiShifting
LoziAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LuchaziAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LuyiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Mashi (Zambia)Atlantic-CongoThreatened
MbukushuAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NambyaAtlantic-CongoShifting
NaroKhoe-KwadiThreatened
NgandyeraAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NkhumbiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
North-Central JuKxaThreatened
Northern JuKxaThreatened
NyembaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
South-Eastern JuKxaThreatened
SubiyaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Tonga (Zambia)Atlantic-CongoNot endangered
TotelaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
UmbunduAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
West !XoonTuuThreatened
XiriKhoe-KwadiNearly extinct
YeyiAtlantic-CongoMoribund
ZembaAtlantic-CongoThreatened

Read more: where is Afrikaans spoken?

Language families in Namibia

About these numbers

The list of languages in Namibia 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 Namibia

How many languages are spoken in Namibia?

40 living languages are mapped in Namibia, 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 Namibia?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Afrikaans is spoken by 75% of the population, about 2,102,745 people, followed by Kuanyama (35%). 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 Namibia?

Atlantic-Congo (26 languages), Khoe-Kwadi (5 languages), Kxa (4 languages), Indo-European (3 languages) and Tuu (2 languages).

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