Living languages

Description: Number of languages, indigenous and non-indigenous, that are not extinct, meaning they are still in use or an ethnic community still identifies with them.
Data source: SIL Global (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Unit: languages
Date range: 2026-2026
Last updated: 2026-09-24
Next expected update: 2027-09-24
Managed by: Fiona Spooner

A living language is one that is not extinct. This includes languages that no one speaks as a first language anymore but that a community still associates with its identity, and languages that are used only as a second language.
For a living language to be counted in each country, it must either be indigenous to that country or be non-indigenous and counted as established.
To be considered established, a non-indigenous language must be being acquired by the next generation, either in the home, through mandatory schooling, or in the workplace. Additionally, its use must be the norm, either as a first or second language within a language community or community of practice, for example students who learn it as a second language in a school system.

Show more Show less

Living languages can be classified as either institutional, stable, or endangered, based on how likely they are to be transmitted to future generations. Institutional languages are those most likely to be passed on, while endangered languages are at the highest risk of falling out of use.

Frequently asked questions

How did Our World in Data process this data?

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Notes on our processing step for this indicator

Languages are aggregated to the continent level with each language being counted only once for each region it is spoken in.

Data sources

SIL Global – Ethnologue

Ethnologue is a comprehensive reference work cataloging the world’s languages, providing data on over 7,000 living languages, including their distribution, number of speakers, and classification. It serves as a key resource for linguists, educators, and researchers interested in global linguistic diversity.

Retrieved on

September 24, 2026

Retrieved from

https://www.ethnologue.com/codes/

Citation

This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data.

Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Alison J. Robinson (eds.). 2026. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-ninth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL Global. Online version: https://www.ethnologue.com/codes/.

How to cite

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Living languages”, part of the following publication: Bastian Herre and Pablo Arriagada (2023) - “State Capacity”. Data adapted from SIL Global. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261106-094631/grapher/living-languages.html [online resource] (archived on November 6, 2026).

How to cite this data

If you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

SIL Global (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data

Full citation

SIL Global (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Living languages – SIL Global” [dataset]. SIL Global, “Ethnologue” [original data]. Retrieved November 6, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20261106-094631/grapher/living-languages.html (archived on November 6, 2026).

All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately. This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.

All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Download

Quick download

You can download the visualization as an image.

The data is published under a license that doesn't allow us to redistribute it. Please visit the data publisher's website for more details:

https://www.ethnologue.com/codes/