World Language Map

Languages spoken in Zimbabwe

27 living languages are mapped in Zimbabwe. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Shona (81% of the population). They belong to 3 language families, the largest being Atlantic-Congo (23 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 Zimbabwe at a glance

  • 27living languages
  • 3language families
  • 17.2 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 9with a CLDR share

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

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
ShonaAtlantic-Congo81%13,891,824Not endangered
EnglishIndo-European42%7,203,168Not endangered
Zimbabwean NdebeleAtlantic-Congo12%2,058,048Not endangered
ManyikaAtlantic-Congo6.5%1,114,776Not endangered
NdauAtlantic-Congo6.1%1,046,174Not endangered
KalangaAtlantic-Congo5.3%908,971Not endangered
NyanjaAtlantic-Congo1.9%325,858Not endangered
VendaAtlantic-Congo0.6%109,763Not endangered
TswanaAtlantic-Congo0.2%37,731Not endangered
AfrikaansIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
BarweAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BirwaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
ChikundaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
HoloholoAtlantic-CongoThreatened
LoziAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NambyaAtlantic-CongoShifting
Northern TshwaKhoe-KwadiShifting
NsengaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NyungweAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
PediAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
ShuaKhoe-KwadiShifting
SubiyaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
TawaraAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Toka-Leya-DombeAtlantic-CongoShifting
Tonga (Zambia)Atlantic-CongoNot endangered
TsongaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
TswaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered

Read more: where is Shona spoken?

Language families in Zimbabwe

About these numbers

The list of languages in Zimbabwe 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 Zimbabwe

How many languages are spoken in Zimbabwe?

27 living languages are mapped in Zimbabwe, from 3 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 Zimbabwe?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Shona is spoken by 81% of the population, about 13,891,824 people, followed by English (42%). 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 Zimbabwe?

Atlantic-Congo (23 languages), Indo-European (2 languages) and Khoe-Kwadi (2 languages).

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