World Language Map

Languages spoken in Angola

54 living languages are mapped in Angola. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Portuguese (67% of the population). They belong to 4 language families, the largest being Atlantic-Congo (49 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 Angola at a glance

  • 54living languages
  • 4language families
  • 37.2 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 4with a CLDR share

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

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
PortugueseIndo-European67%24,925,407Not endangered
UmbunduAtlantic-Congo29%10,788,609Not endangered
KimbunduAtlantic-Congo25%9,300,525Not endangered
Kinshasa LingalaAtlantic-Congo0.7%249,254Not endangered
Central WamboAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
ChokweAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Diriku-ShambyuAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Hai//om-AkhoeKhoe-KwadiNot endangered
HereroAtlantic-CongoThreatened
HoluAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Hungu-PomboAtlantic-CongoThreatened
KibalaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
KuanyamaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KunyiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KuvaleAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KwanduAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KwangaliAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KxoeKhoe-KwadiShifting
LaariAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Luba-LuluaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LuchaziAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LuimbiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LundaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LuvaleAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LuyiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LwaluAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Mashi (Zambia)Atlantic-CongoThreatened
MbangalaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MbukushuAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MbundaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MbwelaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MpindaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
NdombeAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NdongaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NgandyeraAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NgendelengoAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NkangalaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
NkhumbiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
North-Central JuKxaThreatened
Northern JuKxaThreatened

Read more: where is Portuguese spoken?

Language families in Angola

All 54 languages in Angola, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Angola 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 Angola

How many languages are spoken in Angola?

54 living languages are mapped in Angola, from 4 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 Angola?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Portuguese is spoken by 67% of the population, about 24,925,407 people, followed by Umbundu (29%). 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 Angola?

Atlantic-Congo (49 languages), Khoe-Kwadi (2 languages), Kxa (2 languages) and Indo-European (1 language).

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