Austronesian · ISO 639-3 niu
Niuean Language Vagahau Niuē
Niuean is an Austronesian language spoken by about 10,000 people in 1 country. It is an official language of Niue. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Niuean is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Niuean
About the Niuean language
Niuean (Vagahau Niuē) is spoken by about 10,000 people, which makes it the 546th most spoken language in the world — just behind Northern Frisian (10,000) and ahead of Nauru (9,300). It belongs to the Austronesian language family and, more precisely, to the Tongic group within the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian branch.
Where is Niuean spoken?
Niuean is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Niue (1,120). More than half of the population speaks it in Niue — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Niuean is an official language in 1 country: Niue.
Writing system and status
Niuean is written in the Latin script. Glottolog classifies it as vulnerable, meaning fewer children learn it than in the past.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Tonga (Tonga Islands), Samoan, Maori, Tahitian, Hawaiian, Tuvalu and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 niu.
Frequently asked questions about Niuean
How many people speak Niuean?
Where is Niuean spoken?
In which countries is Niuean an official language?
What language family does Niuean belong to?
What is Niuean called in Niuean?
Is Niuean 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.