Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 swh
Swahili Language
Swahili is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 82 million people in 7 countries. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Swahili is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Swahili
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Northeast Savanna Bantu
- Northeast Coastal Bantu
- Coastal NEC Bantu
- Sabaki-Swahili
- Swahili (G.40)
- Mombasa-Lamu-Inland Swahili
- Swahili
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Swahili language
Swahili is spoken by about 82 million people, which makes it the 21st most spoken language in the world — just behind Wu Chinese (84 million) and ahead of Turkish (82 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Mombasa-Lamu-Inland Swahili group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Swahili spoken?
Swahili is used in 7 countries. The largest communities live in Tanzania (61 million). More than half of the population speaks it in Tanzania — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Swahili is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Swahili is written in the Latin 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 Congo Swahili, Segeju, Giryama, Ngazidja Comorian, Ndzwani Comorian, Gogo and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 swh.
Frequently asked questions about Swahili
How many people speak Swahili?
Where is Swahili spoken?
What language family does Swahili belong to?
Is Swahili 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.