World Language Map

Languages spoken in the Republic of the Congo

78 living languages are mapped in the Republic of the Congo. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is French (61% of the population). They belong to 2 language families, the largest being Atlantic-Congo (77 languages).

Tap or scroll to load the interactive map

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 Republic of the Congo at a glance

  • 78living languages
  • 2language families
  • 6.1 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 2with a CLDR share

Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in the Republic of the Congo. 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 Republic of the Congo

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
FrenchIndo-European61%3,719,579Not endangered
Kinshasa LingalaAtlantic-Congo2.4%146,344Not endangered
AkwaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Baka (Cameroon)Atlantic-CongoThreatened
BeembeAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BekwilAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BobangiAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Boma NordAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BombomaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BomitabaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BomwaliAtlantic-CongoThreatened
BongiliAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BwisiAtlantic-CongoShifting
DiboleAtlantic-CongoShifting
DoondoAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Fang (Equatorial Guinea)Atlantic-CongoNot endangered
ImpfondoAtlantic-CongoShifting
KaambaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
KakoAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Kituba (Congo)Atlantic-CongoNot endangered
Kota (Gabon)Atlantic-CongoThreatened
KoyoAtlantic-CongoThreatened
KunyiAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Kwa SouthAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
KéléAtlantic-CongoThreatened
LaariAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LategeAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LikubaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LikwalaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LobalaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Loi-LikilaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
LumbuAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MahongweAtlantic-CongoShifting
MbandjaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MbangweAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Mbere-MbambaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MbokoAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
MbosiAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Mikaya-Bambengangale-BalumaAtlantic-CongoThreatened
Moi (Congo)Atlantic-CongoThreatened

Read more: where is French spoken?

Language families in the Republic of the Congo

All 78 languages in the Republic of the Congo, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in the Republic of the Congo 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 Republic of the Congo

How many languages are spoken in the Republic of the Congo?

78 living languages are mapped in the Republic of the Congo, from 2 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 Republic of the Congo?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, French is spoken by 61% of the population, about 3,719,579 people, followed by Kinshasa Lingala (2.4%). 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 the Republic of the Congo?

Atlantic-Congo (77 languages) and Indo-European (1 language).

Embed this map

Copy this code into your web page. It is free to use. Please keep the link under the map, as it is how people find where the map comes from.