Indo-European · ISO 639-3 urd · ur
Urdu Language اردو
Urdu is an Indo-European language spoken by about 288 million people in 5 countries. It is an official language of Pakistan. It is written in the Perso-Arabic and Latin scripts.
Where Urdu is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Urdu
Language family
- Indo-European
- Classical Indo-European
- Indo-Iranian
- Indo-Aryan
- Middle-Modern Indo-Aryan
- Continental Indo-Aryan
- Midlands Indo-Aryan
- Shaurasenic
- Indo-Aryan Central zone
- Western Hindi
- Hindustani
- Urdu
Writing system
Perso-Arabic and Latin scripts
Related languages
About the Urdu language
Urdu (اردو) is spoken by about 288 million people, which makes it the 7th most spoken language in the world — just behind Bengali (300 million) and ahead of Portuguese (254 million). It belongs to the Indo-European language family and, more precisely, to the Hindustani group within the Indo-Iranian branch.
Where is Urdu spoken?
Urdu is used in 5 countries. The largest communities live in Pakistan (240 million), India (70 million), United Kingdom (2.4 million), Canada (426,742) and Mauritius (68,146). More than half of the population speaks it in Pakistan — the places where travellers will hear it everywhere.
Share of the population that speaks Urdu: Pakistan 95% (240 million), India 5% (70 million), United Kingdom 3.5% (2.4 million), Canada 1.1% (426,742) and Mauritius 5.2% (68,146).
Urdu is an official language in 1 country: Pakistan. It also has regional official status in India.
Writing system and status
Urdu is written in the Perso-Arabic and Latin scripts. 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 Hindi, Fiji Hindi, Haryanvi, Kanauji, Bundeli, Domari and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-1 ur, ISO 639-3 urd.
Frequently asked questions about Urdu
How many people speak Urdu?
Where is Urdu spoken?
In which countries is Urdu an official language?
What language family does Urdu belong to?
What is Urdu called in Urdu?
Is Urdu 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.