World Language Map

Languages spoken in Indonesia

708 living languages are mapped in Indonesia. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Standard Indonesian (64% of the population). They belong to 35 language families, the largest being Austronesian (446 languages). 21 are language isolates, with no known relatives.

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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 Indonesia at a glance

  • 708living languages
  • 35language families
  • 281.6 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 25with a CLDR share

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

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
Standard IndonesianAustronesian64%180,199,680Not endangered
JavaneseAustronesian34%95,731,080Not endangered
SundaneseAustronesian12%33,787,440Not endangered
MadureseAustronesian6.3%17,738,406Not endangered
Standard MalayAustronesian4.6%12,951,852Not endangered
MinangkabauAustronesian3%8,446,860Threatened
BetawiAustronesian2.1%5,912,802Threatened
BalineseAustronesian1.8%5,068,116Not endangered
BugineseAustronesian1.6%4,504,992Not endangered
BanjarAustronesian1.5%4,223,430Not endangered
AcehneseAustronesian1.4%3,941,868Threatened
SasakAustronesian1%2,731,151Not endangered
Batak TobaAustronesian0.9%2,590,370Threatened
Mandarin ChineseSino-Tibetan0.9%2,590,370Not endangered
MakasarAustronesian0.7%2,055,403Threatened
Lampung ApiAustronesian0.7%1,942,778Threatened
RejangAustronesian0.5%1,295,185Not endangered
GorontaloAustronesian0.4%1,154,404Threatened
NgajuAustronesian0.4%1,041,779Not endangered
KomeringAustronesian0.3%900,998Threatened
Uab MetoAustronesian0.3%760,217Not endangered
KerinciAustronesian0.1%394,187Threatened
TolakiAustronesian0.1%366,031Threatened
GayoAustronesian0.1%337,874Threatened
Tae'Austronesian0.1%309,718Not endangered
Abai Tubu-Abai SembuakAustronesianThreatened
AbawiriLakes PlainShifting
AbinomnIsolateNearly extinct
AbuiTimor-Alor-PantarShifting
AbunIsolateShifting
AdangTimor-Alor-PantarShifting
AdonaraAustronesianNot endangered
AghuNuclear Trans New GuineaThreatened
AiroranGreater KwerbaShifting
AloreseAustronesianNot endangered
AluneAustronesianThreatened
AmahaiAustronesianNearly extinct
AmanabBorderShifting
AmarasiAustronesianThreatened
AmbaiAustronesianThreatened

Read more: where is Standard Indonesian spoken?

Language families in Indonesia

All 708 languages in Indonesia, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Indonesia 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 Indonesia

How many languages are spoken in Indonesia?

708 living languages are mapped in Indonesia, from 35 families, plus 21 language isolates. 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 Indonesia?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Standard Indonesian is spoken by 64% of the population, about 180,199,680 people, followed by Javanese (34%). 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 Indonesia?

Austronesian (446 languages), Nuclear Trans New Guinea (69 languages), Timor-Alor-Pantar (20 languages), Lakes Plain (19 languages) and North Halmahera (15 languages), and 30 more.

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