Afro-Asiatic · ISO 639-3 orm · om
Oromo Language Afaan Oromoo
Oromo is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by about 42 million people in 3 countries. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Oromo is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Language family
- Afro-Asiatic
- Cushitic
- East Cushitic
- Oromo
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Oromo language
Oromo (Afaan Oromoo) is spoken by about 42 million people. It belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family and, more precisely, to the East Cushitic group within the East Cushitic branch.
Where is Oromo spoken?
Oromo is used in 3 countries. The largest communities live in Ethiopia (38 million), Kenya (273,758) and Somalia (54,672).
Share of the population that speaks Oromo: Ethiopia 32% (38 million), Kenya 0.5% (273,758) and Somalia 0.4% (54,672).
Oromo is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Oromo is written in the Latin script.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Somali, Eastern Oromo, Borana-Arsi-Guji Oromo, Sidamo, Maay and Afar.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 om, ISO 639-3 orm.
Frequently asked questions about Oromo
How many people speak Oromo?
Where is Oromo spoken?
What language family does Oromo belong to?
What is Oromo called in Oromo?
Is Oromo 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.