World Language Map

Languages spoken in Vietnam

114 living languages are mapped in Vietnam. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Vietnamese (86% of the population). They belong to 5 language families, the largest being Austroasiatic (48 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 Vietnam at a glance

  • 114living languages
  • 5language families
  • 105.8 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 5with a CLDR share

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

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
VietnameseAustroasiatic86%90,952,740Not endangered
Hmong DawHmong-Mien1.4%1,480,626Not endangered
Mandarin ChineseSino-Tibetan1.1%1,163,349Not endangered
Tai DamTai-Kadai0.7%729,737Not endangered
Hmong NjuaHmong-Mien0.2%179,790Not endangered
AkhaSino-TibetanNot endangered
AremAustroasiaticNearly extinct
BahnarAustroasiaticNot endangered
BihAustronesianNearly extinct
BiyoSino-TibetanNot endangered
BouyeiTai-KadaiNot endangered
BraoAustroasiaticThreatened
Budeh StiengAustroasiaticMoribund
Bulo StiengAustroasiaticShifting
Cacgia RoglaiAustronesianNot endangered
Cao LanTai-KadaiNot endangered
Central KhmerAustroasiaticNot endangered
Central MnongAustroasiaticThreatened
ChrauAustroasiaticThreatened
ChruAustronesianShifting
ChutAustroasiaticShifting
CuaAustroasiaticThreatened
CôôngSino-TibetanMoribund
Dai ZhuangTai-KadaiThreatened
Duoluo GelaoTai-KadaiMoribund
Eastern BruAustroasiaticThreatened
Eastern ChamAustronesianThreatened
Eastern KatuAustroasiaticNot endangered
Eastern MnongAustroasiaticNot endangered
EnTai-KadaiShifting
Hagei GelaoTai-KadaiMoribund
HalangAustroasiaticThreatened
Halang DoanAustroasiaticThreatened
HaniSino-TibetanNot endangered
HaroiAustronesianShifting
Hmong DonHmong-MienNot endangered
Hmong DôHmong-MienNot endangered
HreAustroasiaticNot endangered
HungAustroasiaticShifting
Iu MienHmong-MienNot endangered

Read more: where is Vietnamese spoken?

Language families in Vietnam

All 114 languages in Vietnam, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Vietnam 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 Vietnam

How many languages are spoken in Vietnam?

114 living languages are mapped in Vietnam, 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 Vietnam?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Vietnamese is spoken by 86% of the population, about 90,952,740 people, followed by Hmong Daw (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 Vietnam?

Austroasiatic (48 languages), Tai-Kadai (31 languages), Sino-Tibetan (16 languages), Austronesian (10 languages) and Hmong-Mien (9 languages).

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