Nilotic · ISO 639-3 teo
Teso Language Ateso
Teso is a Nilotic language spoken by about 1.7 million people in 2 countries. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Teso is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
About the Teso language
Teso (Ateso) is spoken by about 1.7 million people, which makes it the 348th most spoken language in the world — just behind Timne (1.7 million) and ahead of Afar (1.6 million). It belongs to the Nilotic language family and, more precisely, to the Teso-Turkana group within the Teso-Lotuxo-Maa branch.
Where is Teso spoken?
Teso is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in Uganda (1.9 million) and Kenya (431,023).
Share of the population that speaks Teso: Uganda 3.9% (1.9 million) and Kenya 0.7% (431,023).
Teso is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Teso is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 teo.
Frequently asked questions about Teso
How many people speak Teso?
Where is Teso spoken?
What language family does Teso belong to?
What is Teso called in Teso?
Is Teso 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.