Austronesian · ISO 639-3 iba
Iban Language
Iban is an Austronesian language spoken by about 2.3 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Iban is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Iban
Language family
- Austronesian
- Malayo-Polynesian
- Malayo-Chamic
- Malayic
- Ibanic
- Iban-Mualang-Seberuang
- Iban-Seberuang
- Northern Iban
- Iban
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Iban language
Iban is spoken by about 2.3 million people, which makes it the 291st most spoken language in the world — just behind Dogri (2.3 million) and ahead of Luba-Katanga (2.3 million). It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the Northern Iban group within the Malayo-Chamic branch.
Where is Iban spoken?
Iban is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Malaysia (864,120).
Iban is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Iban 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 Indonesian, Minangkabau, Betawi, Bukit Malay, Banjar, Pattani Malay and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 iba.
Frequently asked questions about Iban
How many people speak Iban?
Where is Iban spoken?
What language family does Iban belong to?
Is Iban 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.