All the World’s Endangered Languages, by Country

Global language loss on a catastrophic scale is increasing in likelihood, with vulnerable language numbers rising in every continent, every country, and every corner of the world. Indeed, 3,078 of the world’s 7,168 living languages (43%) are now classified as Endangered, 100s of which face the very real threat of extinction within a few decades if no action is taken. Despite these shocking statistics, though, almost no mainstream media coverage is given to what has become an urgent humanitarian crisis.

Whilst every language matters to the individuals speaking, writing and signing them across the planet, 80% of endangered languages (2,484) exist within just 25 countries. Of those, the top 4 countries alone - Indonesia (425), Papua New Guinea (312), Australia (190) and USA (180) - account for well over a thousand endangered languages. If the governments of those Top 25 countries were to take proactive steps to protect the indigenous languages within their areas, 100s or even 1000s of languages could be preserved for future generations, and we could begin to stem language loss.  

This infographic presents the current global landscape of endangered languages using a Voronoi diagram, providing insights by continent and country, with associated statistics for the Top 10 and Top 25 countries. It is designed to educate and inform people about the scale of potential language loss, and advocate for urgent action to protect and preserve endangered indigenous languages. The accompanying dataset provides additional statistics, and was distilled from our paid-access Language Insight platform (https://insight.derivation.co/).