Africa is home to numerous languages, in addition to the number of countries and population that characterize its variety. Africa is home to about 2,000 different languages, making up about one-third of the world’s 6,000 languages. This diversity helps Africa’s population of over 1.2 billion people.
At least 75 African languages are spoken by more than a million people on the continent. Populations of a few hundred to several hundred thousand speakers speak the remaining languages.
The primary language of Africa is Swahili, which is spoken throughout the east and south of the continent. Yoruba is spoken in southwest Nigeria, the Benin Republic, and Togo, while Hausa is the primary language of the Chadic people in Nigeria, Niger, and Chad. For each of these languages, there are over 150 million speakers.
Africa’s astounding language diversity is evidence of the elegance of human communication. Furthermore, this linguistic diversity is a living narrative that conveys the tales of several civilizations, customs, and histories rather than only a quantitative characteristic.
Additionally, because of past colonial influences, non-native languages like English and French are extensively spoken and utilized throughout the continent. For example, around 130 million Africans speak English, which is either an official or secondary language in 27 of the 54 countries on the continent.
Below are 10 African countries with the highest number of languages, according to Statista:
| Rank | Country | Number of languages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nigeria | 520 |
| 2 | Cameroon | 227 |
| 3 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 214 |
| 4 | Chad | 129 |
| 5 | Tanzania | 128 |
| 6 | Ethiopia | 92 |
| 7 | Côte d’Ivoire | 88 |
| 8 | Ghana | 83 |
| 9 | Sudan | 75 |
| 10 | South Sudan | 73 |