World Language Map

Languages spoken in Russia

145 living languages are mapped in Russia. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Russian (94% of the population). They belong to 16 language families, the largest being Uralic (33 languages).

Tap or scroll to load the interactive map

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 Russia at a glance

  • 145living languages
  • 16language families
  • 140.8 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 19with a CLDR share

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

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
RussianIndo-European94%132,371,740Not endangered
TatarTurkic1.4%1,971,494Not endangered
BashkirTurkic1.3%1,830,673Threatened
ChuvashTurkic1.3%1,830,673Threatened
Eastern ArmenianIndo-European0.8%1,182,896Not endangered
ChechenNakh-Daghestanian0.7%929,419Threatened
AvarNakh-Daghestanian0.4%549,202Threatened
UdmurtUralic0.4%535,120Shifting
Iron OssetianIndo-European0.3%450,627Threatened
SakhaTurkic0.3%450,627Threatened
ErzyaUralic0.3%436,545Shifting
KabardianAbkhaz-Adyge0.3%436,545Threatened
North-Central DargwaNakh-Daghestanian0.3%366,135Threatened
MokshaUralic0.2%295,724Not endangered
KumykTurkic0.2%281,642Threatened
LezgianNakh-Daghestanian0.2%253,478Threatened
Karachay-BalkarTurkic0.2%239,396Threatened
IngushNakh-Daghestanian0.2%225,314Threatened
TuvinianTurkic0.1%183,067Not endangered
AbazaAbkhaz-AdygeThreatened
AbkhazAbkhaz-AdygeThreatened
AghulNakh-DaghestanianShifting
AleutEskimo-AleutShifting
AlutorChukotko-KamchatkanMoribund
Amur NivkhNivkhMoribund
AndiNakh-DaghestanianThreatened
ArchiNakh-DaghestanianShifting
BagvalalNakh-DaghestanianShifting
Balkan RomaniIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Baltic RomaniIndo-EuropeanThreatened
BelarusianIndo-EuropeanThreatened
BezhtaNakh-DaghestanianShifting
BotlikhNakh-DaghestanianShifting
Central MansiUralicMoribund
Central RomaniIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Central Siberian YupikEskimo-AleutShifting
ChamalalNakh-DaghestanianShifting
China BuriatMongolic-KhitanThreatened
ChiragNakh-DaghestanianShifting
ChukchiChukotko-KamchatkanShifting

Read more: where is Russian spoken?

Language families in Russia

All 145 languages in Russia, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Russia 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 Russia

How many languages are spoken in Russia?

145 living languages are mapped in Russia, from 16 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 Russia?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Russian is spoken by 94% of the population, about 132,371,740 people, followed by Tatar (1.4%). 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 Russia?

Uralic (33 languages), Nakh-Daghestanian (31 languages), Turkic (21 languages), Indo-European (20 languages) and Tungusic (12 languages), and 11 more.

Embed this map

Copy this code into your web page. It is free to use. Please keep the link under the map, as it is how people find where the map comes from.