Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 hay
Haya Language Oluhaya
Haya is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.3 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Haya is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Haya
About the Haya language
Haya (Oluhaya) is spoken by about 1.3 million people, which makes it the 408th most spoken language in the world — just behind Emilian (1.3 million) and ahead of Maguindanaon (1.3 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the South Rutara group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Haya spoken?
Haya is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Tanzania (1.3 million).
Haya is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Haya is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Nyankole, Chiga, Ganda, Kenyi, Soga, Kinyarwanda and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 hay.
Frequently asked questions about Haya
How many people speak Haya?
Where is Haya spoken?
What language family does Haya belong to?
What is Haya called in Haya?
Is Haya an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.