World Language Map

Languages spoken in Rwanda

11 living languages are mapped in Rwanda. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Kinyarwanda (77% of the population). They belong to 2 language families, the largest being Atlantic-Congo (9 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 Rwanda at a glance

  • 11living languages
  • 2language families
  • 13.6 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 3with a CLDR share

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

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
KinyarwandaAtlantic-Congo77%10,489,941Not endangered
EnglishIndo-European15%2,043,495Not endangered
FrenchIndo-European5.8%790,151Not endangered
ChigaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
HavuAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KabwariAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NyamboAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NyankoleAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
RundiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
ShiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
SwahiliAtlantic-CongoNot endangered

Read more: where is Kinyarwanda spoken?

Language families in Rwanda

About these numbers

The list of languages in Rwanda 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 Rwanda

How many languages are spoken in Rwanda?

11 living languages are mapped in Rwanda, from 2 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 Rwanda?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Kinyarwanda is spoken by 77% of the population, about 10,489,941 people, followed by English (15%). 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 Rwanda?

Atlantic-Congo (9 languages) and Indo-European (2 languages).

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