World Language Map

Languages spoken in Thailand

78 living languages are mapped in Thailand. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Thai (80% of the population). They belong to 6 language families, the largest being Austroasiatic (27 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 Thailand at a glance

  • 78living languages
  • 6language families
  • 69.9 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 10with a CLDR share

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

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
ThaiTai-Kadai80%55,936,800Not endangered
EnglishIndo-European27%18,878,670Not endangered
Northeastern ThaiTai-Kadai24%16,781,040Not endangered
Northern ThaiTai-Kadai9.6%6,712,416Not endangered
Southern ThaiTai-Kadai8%5,593,680Not endangered
Kelantan-Pattani MalayAustronesian5%3,496,050Threatened
Mandarin ChineseSino-Tibetan1.8%1,258,578Not endangered
Northern KhmerAustroasiatic1.7%1,188,657Not endangered
KuyAustroasiatic0.5%335,621Moribund
MonAustroasiatic0.2%118,866Threatened
AkeuSino-TibetanShifting
AkhaSino-TibetanNot endangered
BisuSino-TibetanShifting
BlangAustroasiaticNot endangered
BurmeseSino-TibetanNot endangered
Bwe KarenSino-TibetanNot endangered
Central ChongAustroasiaticMoribund
Central KhmerAustroasiaticNot endangered
Central MalayAustronesianNot endangered
Chong of ChanthaburiAustroasiaticMoribund
Eastern KayahSino-TibetanNot endangered
Hmong DawHmong-MienNot endangered
Hmong NjuaHmong-MienNot endangered
Iu MienHmong-MienNot endangered
JehaiAustroasiaticShifting
Kayan LahwiSino-TibetanNot endangered
Kedah-Perak MalayAustronesianNot endangered
KensiuAustroasiaticShifting
KhmuAustroasiaticNot endangered
KhünTai-KadaiNot endangered
KintaqAustroasiaticShifting
LahuSino-TibetanNot endangered
Lahu ShiSino-TibetanNot endangered
LametAustroasiaticNot endangered
LaoTai-KadaiNot endangered
LisuSino-TibetanNot endangered
LüTai-KadaiNot endangered
MalAustroasiaticNot endangered
MangAustroasiaticMoribund
ManiqAustroasiaticShifting

Read more: where is Thai spoken?

Language families in Thailand

All 78 languages in Thailand, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Thailand 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 Thailand

How many languages are spoken in Thailand?

78 living languages are mapped in Thailand, from 6 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 Thailand?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Thai is spoken by 80% of the population, about 55,936,800 people, followed by English (27%). 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 Thailand?

Austroasiatic (27 languages), Sino-Tibetan (23 languages), Tai-Kadai (16 languages), Austronesian (7 languages) and Hmong-Mien (3 languages), and 1 more.

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