The State of the World’s 7,168 Living Languages
In similar fashion to the natural kingdom, where plant and animal species range from abundant to endangered, languages are also classified stronger or weaker using different scales. One important dimension is language status, classified using the 13-point Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale ('EGIDS'). Stronger languages are classified as Institutional, broadly signifying official usage within government, trade and education. In the middle are Stable languages, generally featuring languages with widespread social use within communities across all age ranges.
Weaker languages are classified as Endangered, broadly signifying different degrees of vulnerability, represented by two subgroups: In Trouble - languages where the natural ‘Parent teaching Child’ process is weakening; and Dying - languages where native speakers are elderly without fluency existing in younger generations. Extinct features languages that have ceased to exist within the last 200 years or so and, lastly, Unclassified represents the small group of languages without a current EGIDS classification.
There are vast differences in the number of speakers, writers and signers of languages, ranging from those with than a billion worldwide (e.g. English) down to those with a handful of isolated, elderly users of dying indigenous languages. Our infographic explains the EGIDS scale but, more importantly, shows the distribution of languages according to their language status and the number of speakers.
Our analysis reveals fresh insight into the power of major languages and the weakness of indigenous languages. For example, 6.1 billion people speak one of the 490 Institutional languages used in government, trade and edition; whereas speakers of 3,078 Endangered languages account for 88.1 million individuals. Our infographic 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.