World Language Map

Languages spoken in the Philippines

172 living languages are mapped in the Philippines. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is English (64% of the population). They belong to 3 language families, the largest being Austronesian (168 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 the Philippines at a glance

  • 172living languages
  • 3language families
  • 118.3 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 15with a CLDR share

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

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
EnglishIndo-European64%75,697,280Not endangered
FilipinoAustronesian60%70,966,200Not endangered
SpanishIndo-European31%36,665,870Not endangered
CebuanoAustronesian24%28,386,480Not endangered
IlokoAustronesian9.6%11,354,592Not endangered
HiligaynonAustronesian8.4%9,935,268Not endangered
Waray (Philippines)Austronesian2.9%3,430,033Not endangered
PampangaAustronesian2.3%2,720,371Not endangered
PangasinanAustronesian1.4%1,655,878Not endangered
MaguindanaoAustronesian1.2%1,419,324Threatened
TausugAustronesian1.1%1,301,047Not endangered
Mandarin ChineseSino-Tibetan0.7%863,422Not endangered
CapiznonAustronesian0.7%780,628Not endangered
Kinaray-aAustronesian0.4%461,280Not endangered
Iriga BicolanoAustronesian0.3%331,176Not endangered
Abenlen AytaAustronesianShifting
AdasenAustronesianShifting
Agta-PahananAustronesianNot endangered
Agusan ManoboAustronesianNot endangered
AgutaynenAustronesianNot endangered
Ahin-Kayapa KalanguyaAustronesianNot endangered
AklanonAustronesianNot endangered
Alabat Island AgtaAustronesianNearly extinct
AlanganAustronesianThreatened
Ambala AytaAustronesianThreatened
Amganad IfugaoAustronesianNot endangered
ArtaAustronesianNearly extinct
AtaAustronesianNearly extinct
Ata ManoboAustronesianNot endangered
AtiAustronesianShifting
BalangaoAustronesianNot endangered
BalangingiAustronesianNot endangered
Banao ItnegAustronesianNot endangered
BangadAustronesianNot endangered
BantayanonAustronesianThreatened
BantoanonAustronesianNot endangered
Bataan AytaAustronesianShifting
Batad IfugaoAustronesianNot endangered
BatakAustronesianShifting
BaybayanonAustronesianNot endangered

Read more: where is English spoken?

Language families in the Philippines

All 172 languages in the Philippines, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in the Philippines 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 the Philippines

How many languages are spoken in the Philippines?

172 living languages are mapped in the Philippines, from 3 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 the Philippines?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, English is spoken by 64% of the population, about 75,697,280 people, followed by Filipino (60%). 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 the Philippines?

Austronesian (168 languages), Indo-European (3 languages) and Sino-Tibetan (1 language).

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