Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 yao
Yao Language Ciyawo
Yao is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 3.1 million people in 2 countries. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Yao is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Yao
About the Yao language
Yao (Ciyawo) is spoken by about 3.1 million people, which makes it the 244th most spoken language in the world — just behind Southern Kurdish (3.1 million) and ahead of Abron (3.0 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Yaoic group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Yao spoken?
Yao is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in Malawi (3.1 million) and Mozambique (800,424).
Share of the population that speaks Yao: Malawi 14% (3.1 million) and Mozambique 2.4% (800,424).
Yao is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Yao 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 Makonde, Machinga, Swahili, Zulu, Chichewa, Tsonga and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 yao.
Frequently asked questions about Yao
How many people speak Yao?
Where is Yao spoken?
What language family does Yao belong to?
What is Yao called in Yao?
Is Yao 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.