Indo-European · ISO 639-3 npi
Nepali Language नेपाली
Nepali is an Indo-European language spoken by about 16 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Devanagari script.
Where Nepali is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Nepali
About the Nepali language
Nepali (नेपाली) is spoken by about 16 million people, which makes it the 83rd most spoken language in the world — just behind Haryanvi (16 million) and ahead of Sinhala (16 million). It belongs to the Indo-European language family and, more precisely, to the Eastern Pahari group within the Indo-Iranian branch.
Where is Nepali spoken?
Nepali is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Nepal (16 million). More than half of the population speaks it in Nepal — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Nepali is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Nepali is written in the Devanagari 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 Garhwali, Kumaoni, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Bhojpuri and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 npi.
Frequently asked questions about Nepali
How many people speak Nepali?
Where is Nepali spoken?
What language family does Nepali belong to?
What is Nepali called in Nepali?
Is Nepali 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.