There Papua New Guineaa state in Oceania with its capital Port Moresby, is the Country where the most languages are spoken in the world. In fact, many have been recognised and registered on the national territory 841 different languagesalthough the only three official languages in the State are English, Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu. This characteristic of Papua New Guinea, beyond the record in itself, is called multilingualism, that is, the coexistence in a given territory of different languages that often end up mixing with each other. The linguistic diversity is the result of a multitude of factors: migrations, trade, conquests and colonizations, just to name a few. Beyond Papua New Guinea, let’s look at the ranking – a top 10 – of the countries with the most languages spoken in the world.
World ranking of countries where the most languages are spoken
Here is a graph and, below, the annotated list of the top 10 countries by number of languages spoken, according to Ethnologue data updated to 2023.
- Papua New Guinea, 841 languages spoken: we said it, it is the most multilingual state in the world and think that the languages present in the country could be even more than 841. The officially census population of the country, in fact, slightly exceeds 9 million inhabitants, but according to different estimates, the actual population could reach double. The mountainous geography of the territory, the high number of islands and atolls and the isolation of the different communities that live there have contributed to linguistic diversity. Many of the 841 languages are spoken by less than 1000 people, small ethnic groups, and are at risk of extinction.
- Indonesia, 720 languages spoken: in second place in the ranking we find Indonesia, neighbor of Papua New Guinea and known, among other things, for its wonderful beaches, volcanoes and Komodo dragons. If the official language is Indonesian, which has only been taught in schools since 1930 and is the language of business, politics and the national media, it is joined by 720 languages. Certainly the geography of the place – we are talking about about 18,000 islands – lends itself well to such a variety.
- Nigeria, 537 languages spoken: third place goes to Nigeria, an African country overlooking the Gulf of Guinea. In addition to English, which is mainly spoken in its Africanized version, commonly called pidgin Englishand to the mother tongue of their ethnic group, many Nigerians know a third. Widespread languages are Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo but in Nigeria we find a total of more than 537.
- India, 458 languages spoken: In fourth place stands out India, which does not have a single official national language, but recognizes 21. English, the language of the former colonizers, is spoken by 90 million people, who form the most educated and powerful segment of the population. Hindi follows, which is spoken by about 40% of Indian citizens, especially in the north and center of the country. In total, the number of languages reaches 458.
- United States, 355 languages spoken: In the United States, English, in its “American” variety, is the native language of 82% of the population, followed by Spanish. In total, 355 languages are spoken.
- Australia, 318 languages spoken: in Australia, alongside Australian English (the official language), thanks to the huge migratory flows that began after the Second World War, there are 318 languages and dialects from all over the world, from Europe to the Pacific, passing through Asia and Africa.
- China, 307 languages spoken: 307 languages are spoken in China, dominated by Mandarin Chinese. In addition to the Sino-Tibetan language family, one of the main ones in the Asian area, there are other linguistic strains: the Turkic-Mongolian family (for example Turkish and Mongolian, spoken in different areas of China, especially in the north-west), the Australoasiatic family (for example the Mon-Khmer language present in some areas of the Yunnan province), the Indo-European family. Mandarin itself is divided into at least 6 groups of “dialects”, which in some cases take on the connotation of real languages with their respective local dialects.
- Mexico, 304 languages spoken: In Mexico the official language is Spanish, but 304 languages are spoken in total.
- Cameroon, 279 languages spokenCameroon is located in Central Africa, has French and English as official languages, and has 279 spoken languages.
- Brazil, 240 languages spokenPortuguese is the official language of Brazil, the largest country in South America where a total of 240 languages are spoken.
