This map shows the number of endangered languages in each country.
Total number of endangered languages in the world: 3074
- Vulnerable: 725
- Definitely endangered: 849
- Severely endangered: 613
- Critically endangered: 630
- Extinct: 257
What is endangered language?
A language is endangered when its speakers cease to use it, use it in fewer and fewer domains, use fewer of its registers and speaking styles, and/or stop passing it on to the next generation. No single factor determines whether a language is endangered, but United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) experts have identified nine that should be considered together:
- Intergenerational language transmission
- Absolute number of speakers
- Proportion of speakers within the total population
- Shifts in domains of language use
- Response to new domains and media
- Availability of materials for language education and literacy
- Governmental and institutional language attitudes and policies including official status and use
- Community members' attitudes toward their own language
- Amount and quality of documentation
Degree of endangerment is classified in different categories ranging:
- Vulnerable - most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g., home)
- Definitely endangered - children no longer learn the language as a 'mother tongue' in the home
- Severely endangered - language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves
- Critically endangered - the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently
- Extinct - there are no speakers left
14 years ago
