Austronesian · ISO 639-3 mlg · mg
Malagasy Language
Malagasy is an Austronesian language spoken by about 24 million people in 1 country. It is an official language of Madagascar. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Malagasy is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Malagasy
Language family
- Austronesian
- Malayo-Polynesian
- Basap-Greater Barito
- Malagasy
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Malagasy language
Malagasy is spoken by about 24 million people. It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the Basap-Greater Barito group within the Basap-Greater Barito branch.
Where is Malagasy spoken?
Malagasy is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Madagascar (27 million). More than half of the population speaks it in Madagascar — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Malagasy is an official language in 1 country: Madagascar.
Writing system and status
Malagasy is written in the Latin script.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Antankarana Malagasy, Southern Betsimisaraka Malagasy, Tsimihety Malagasy, Northern Betsimisaraka Malagasy, Sakalava Malagasy and Tesaka Malagasy.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 mg, ISO 639-3 mlg.
Frequently asked questions about Malagasy
How many people speak Malagasy?
Where is Malagasy spoken?
In which countries is Malagasy an official language?
What language family does Malagasy belong to?
Is Malagasy 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.