World Language Map

Languages spoken in Singapore

11 living languages are mapped in Singapore. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is English (93% of the population). They belong to 4 language families, the largest being Austronesian (6 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 Singapore at a glance

  • 11living languages
  • 4language families
  • 6 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 6with a CLDR share

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

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
EnglishIndo-European93%5,606,468Not endangered
Mandarin ChineseSino-Tibetan77%4,641,914Not endangered
Standard MalayAustronesian14%843,984Not endangered
TamilDravidian2.1%126,598Not endangered
MalayalamDravidian0.2%10,248Not endangered
Eastern PanjabiIndo-European0.2%9,646Not endangered
Baba MalayAustronesianNearly extinct
Central MalayAustronesianNot endangered
Cocos Islands MalayAustronesianThreatened
Orang SeletarAustronesianShifting
Standard IndonesianAustronesianNot endangered

Read more: where is English spoken?

Language families in Singapore

About these numbers

The list of languages in Singapore 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 Singapore

How many languages are spoken in Singapore?

11 living languages are mapped in Singapore, 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 Singapore?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, English is spoken by 93% of the population, about 5,606,468 people, followed by Mandarin Chinese (77%). 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 Singapore?

Austronesian (6 languages), Indo-European (2 languages), Dravidian (2 languages) and Sino-Tibetan (1 language).

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