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Journalism of Courage
The world’s most multilingual countries: According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), there are about 23 major languages in the world, which account for over half of the world’s population.
An official language of the United Nations (UN), English, with over 1.1 billion speakers worldwide, has emerged as a significant lingua franca that bridges diverse cultures across the globe.
While UNESCO mentions the presence of about 8,324 living languages spoken globally, some countries exhibit significant linguistic diversity, indicating the presence of a diverse number of languages within a country.
Despite India being renowned as one of the most culturally rich and diverse nations, Papua New Guinea is the most linguistically diverse nation, with 840 living languages as of 2024, according to Our World in Data.
Having four official languages—Tok Pisin, English, Hiri Motu, and Papua New Guinean Sign Language—the country’s remarkable linguistic diversity can largely be attributed to its geography and topography, as only 13% of people live in cities—and everyone else lives in remote rural locations.
This separation has fostered the development of distinct tribes and clans, leading to the evolution of diverse languages and dialects among its inhabitants.
Furthermore, Indonesia has the next highest number of languages, followed by Nigeria, India, and the United States, which make up the top 5. Enlisted below are the top 10 countries that have the most living languages, as of 2024.
| Rank | Country | No. of Living Languages (2024) |
| 1 | Papua New Guinea | 840 |
| 2 | Indonesia | 710 |
| 3 | Nigeria | 530 |
| 4 | India | 453 |
| 5 | China | 306 |
| 6 | Mexico | 293 |
| 7 | Cameroon | 279 |
| 8 | United States | 236 |
| 9 | Australia | 224 |
| 10 | Brazil | 222 |
Source: Our World in Data/Living Languages (2024)
Conversely, the Falkland Islands have English as their sole official language, while the Maldives recognizes Dhivehi (or Maldivian) as its official language. Similarly, North Korea designates Korean as its official language. These nations are among the few with the least linguistic diversity.
India is renowned for its remarkable linguistic diversity, having diverse languages and dialects with its distribution influenced by historical, geographical, and cultural factors.
However, according to the data report, India has about 453 living languages as of 2024; the Constitution of India recognises 22 official languages, known as “scheduled languages,” listed in the Eighth Schedule.
These include Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
