Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 umb
Umbundu Language
Umbundu is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 9.4 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Umbundu is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Umbundu
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- Central-Western Bantu
- Njila
- Southern Njila
- Kunene
- Umbundu
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Umbundu language
Umbundu is spoken by about 9.4 million people, which makes it the 129th most spoken language in the world — just behind Belarusian (9.5 million) and ahead of Hebrew (9.3 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Kunene group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Umbundu spoken?
Umbundu is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Angola (11 million).
Umbundu is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Umbundu 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 Mbalanhu, Ngandyera, Kimbundu, Lingala, Luba-Lulua, Kituba (Democratic Republic of Congo) and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 umb.
Frequently asked questions about Umbundu
How many people speak Umbundu?
Where is Umbundu spoken?
What language family does Umbundu belong to?
Is Umbundu 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.