Indo-European · ISO 639-3 ell · el
Modern Greek (1453-) Language Ελληνικά
Modern Greek (1453-) is an Indo-European language spoken by about 15 million people in 10 countries. It is an official language of Greece and Cyprus. It is written in the Greek and Latin scripts.
Where Modern Greek (1453-) is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Modern Greek (1453-)
Language family
- Indo-European
- Classical Indo-European
- Graeco-Phrygian
- Greek
- South Greek
- Central Greek
- Koineic Greek
- Modern Koineic Greek
- Nuclear Modern Greek
- Modern Greek (1453-)
Writing system
Greek and Latin scripts
About the Modern Greek (1453-) language
Modern Greek (1453-) (Ελληνικά) is spoken by about 15 million people, which makes it the 86th most spoken language in the world — just behind Turkmen (16 million) and ahead of Southern Pashto (15 million). It belongs to the Indo-European language family and, more precisely, to the Nuclear Modern Greek group within the Graeco-Phrygian branch.
Where is Modern Greek (1453-) spoken?
Modern Greek (1453-) is used in 10 countries. The largest communities live in Greece (10 million), Cyprus (1.3 million), Germany (319,652), Canada (155,179) and Egypt (67,860). More than half of the population speaks it in Greece and Cyprus — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Share of the population that speaks Modern Greek (1453-): Greece 99% (10 million), Cyprus 95% (1.3 million), Germany 0.4% (319,652), Canada 0.4% (155,179), Egypt <0.1% (67,860) and Albania 1.9% (59,034).
Modern Greek (1453-) is an official language in 2 countries: Greece and Cyprus.
Writing system and status
Modern Greek (1453-) is written in the Greek and Latin scripts. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 el, ISO 639-3 ell.
Frequently asked questions about Modern Greek (1453-)
How many people speak Modern Greek (1453-)?
Where is Modern Greek (1453-) spoken?
In which countries is Modern Greek (1453-) an official language?
What language family does Modern Greek (1453-) belong to?
What is Modern Greek (1453-) called in Modern Greek (1453-)?
Is Modern Greek (1453-) 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.