World Language Map

Languages spoken in Myanmar

134 living languages are mapped in Myanmar. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Burmese (64% of the population). They belong to 6 language families, the largest being Sino-Tibetan (104 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 Myanmar at a glance

  • 134living languages
  • 6language families
  • 57.5 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 5with a CLDR share

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

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
BurmeseSino-Tibetan64%36,817,344Not endangered
ShanTai-Kadai6.4%3,681,734Not endangered
RohingyaIndo-European1.7%977,961Not endangered
Southern JinghpawSino-Tibetan1.7%977,961Not endangered
MonAustroasiatic1.5%862,906Threatened
AkeuSino-TibetanShifting
AkhaSino-TibetanNot endangered
AnalSino-TibetanShifting
Anu-HkongsoSino-TibetanThreatened
Asho ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
Bawm ChinSino-TibetanThreatened
Bishnupriya ManipuriIndo-EuropeanThreatened
BisuSino-TibetanShifting
BlangAustroasiaticNot endangered
Brek KarenSino-TibetanNot endangered
Bualkhaw ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
Bwe KarenSino-TibetanNot endangered
ChakSino-TibetanThreatened
Chang NagaSino-TibetanThreatened
Chen NagaSino-TibetanNot endangered
Chinbon ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
ChotheSino-TibetanShifting
Daai ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
DanauAustroasiaticShifting
DrungSino-TibetanThreatened
East-Central Tangkhul NagaSino-TibetanShifting
Eastern KayahSino-TibetanNot endangered
Eastern Khumi ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
Falam ChinSino-TibetanThreatened
GangteSino-TibetanThreatened
Geba KarenSino-TibetanNot endangered
Geko KarenSino-TibetanNot endangered
Haka ChinSino-TibetanShifting
Hmong NjuaHmong-MienNot endangered
HrangkholSino-TibetanThreatened
Intha-DanuSino-TibetanNot endangered
Iu MienHmong-MienNot endangered
Jejara NagaSino-TibetanThreatened
Kaang ChinSino-TibetanNot endangered
KadoSino-TibetanThreatened

Read more: where is Burmese spoken?

Language families in Myanmar

All 134 languages in Myanmar, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Myanmar 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 Myanmar

How many languages are spoken in Myanmar?

134 living languages are mapped in Myanmar, from 6 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 Myanmar?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Burmese is spoken by 64% of the population, about 36,817,344 people, followed by Shan (6.4%). 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 Myanmar?

Sino-Tibetan (104 languages), Austroasiatic (15 languages), Tai-Kadai (9 languages), Indo-European (3 languages) and Hmong-Mien (2 languages), and 1 more.

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