Languages of the World

At a Glance

• Geography

• Demographics

  7.668 billion people

  7,168 languages

  430 million deaf

  86% literate

• Language Vitality Count

  1. Institutional
     492
  2. Stable
     3593
  3. Endangered
     3072
  4. Extinct
     451

  Details

  This graph shows the profile of languages in the world with respect to their level of language vitality.

  • Institutional — The language has been developed to the point that it is used and sustained by institutions beyond the home and community.
  • Stable — The language is not being sustained by formal institutions, but it is still the norm in the home and community that all children learn and use the language.
  • Endangered — It is no longer the norm that children learn and use this language.
  • Extinct - The language is no longer used and no one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language.

  These four summary levels have been derived by grouping levels in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), which is the more fine-grained scale that Ethnologue uses to assess the status of every language in terms of development versus endangerment; see Language Status for a description of the levels of that scale. See also the pages on Development and Endangerment for more discussion.