Official Languages

Official status is a legal designation. It requires a constitution, language act or charter, which this platform has not yet loaded — speaker numbers cannot establish it.

Languages spoken here

Afrikaans (secondary) · Dutch (secondary) · Dutch (Brabantian) (secondary) · Egyptian Arabic (secondary) · French (secondary) · French (Quebec) (secondary) · German (secondary) · Gujarati (secondary) · Hindi (secondary) · Italian (secondary) · Italian (Romanesco) (secondary) · Levantine Arabic (secondary) · Modern Greek (secondary) · Modern Greek (biblical terms) (secondary) · Portuguese (secondary) · Portuguese (Brazilian) (secondary) · Shona (secondary) · Somali (secondary) · South African Sign Language (secondary) · Tamil (secondary) · Telugu (secondary) · Urdu (secondary) · Urdu (Latin translit.) (secondary) · Xhosa (secondary) · Zulu (secondary)

“Secondary” means a community here speaks it alongside another language. It is not a statement of official or minority-language status.

← Countries

South Africa

Peoples

Largest first.

People	Population	Language	Religion
Zulu	14883000	Zulu	Christianity
Xhosa	9341000	Xhosa	Christianity
Pedi, North Sotho	5826000	Sotho, Northern	Christianity
Coloured	5825000	Afrikaans	Christianity
Sotho, Southern	4855000	Sotho, Southern	Christianity
Afrikaner	4353000	Afrikaans	Christianity
Tsonga, Shangaan	2851000	Tsonga	Christianity
Portuguese	2046000	Portuguese	Christianity
Tswana-Hurutshe	1664000	Setswana	Christianity
Swazi	1631000	Swati	Christianity
Lembaa	1513000	Venda	Ethnic Religions
Anglo-South African	1472000	English	Christianity
Ndebele, Southern	1363000	Ndebele (South Africa)	Christianity
Xhosa-Tembu	996000	Xhosa	Christianity
Sotho, Khutswe	666000	Sotho, Northern	Christianity
Tswana-Rolong	632000	Setswana	Christianity
Hindi	510000	Hindi	Hinduism
Tswana-Tlharu	506000	Setswana	Christianity
Indian, English-speaking	506000	English	Hinduism
Tswana-Tlhaping	442000	Setswana	Christianity
Setswana	442000	Setswana	Christianity
Chinese, general	395000	English	Non-Religious
Malay, Cape	354000	Afrikaans	Islam
Tswana, Detribalized	316000	Setswana	Christianity
British	297000	English	Christianity
Tswana-Tlokwa	253000	Setswana	Christianity
Deaf	238000	South African Sign Language	Unknown
Tswana-Ngwaketse	190000	Setswana	Christianity
Arab, Egyptian general	67000	Arabic, Egyptian	Islam
Tswana-Kwena	63000	Setswana	Christianity
Bhojpuri Bihari	63000	Bhojpuri	Hinduism
Tswana-Ngwato	63000	Setswana	Christianity
Tswana-Malete	63000	Setswana	Christianity
Jewish, English-speaking	56000	English	Judaism
Mauritian	46000	Morisyen	Hinduism
Coloured Creole	44000	Oorlams	Christianity
Gujarati	35000	Gujarati	Hinduism
Tamil (Hindu traditions)	35000	Tamil	Hinduism
Dutch	33000	Dutch	Non-Religious
Tswa	27000	Tswa	Christianity
Somali	26000	Somali	Islam
Shona	25000	Shona	Christianity
Greek	23000	Greek	Christianity
Italian	22000	Italian	Christianity
Makhuwa-Makhuwana	19000	Makhuwa	Ethnic Religions
Urdu	16000	Urdu	Islam
German	16000	German, Standard	Christianity
Americans, U.S.	13000	English	Christianity
French	13000	French	Christianity
Birwa	13000	Birwa	Ethnic Religions

Languages

41 languages recorded here.

Afrikaans

Angloromani

Arabic, Egyptian

Arabic, Levantine

Bhojpuri

Birwa

Dutch

English

French

German, Standard

Greek

Gujarati

Hindi

Italian

Khoekhoe

Khwedam

Kinyarwanda

Kung-Ekoka

Language unknown

Makhuwa

Morisyen

Ndebele (South Africa)

Northwestern Kung

Oorlams

Portuguese

Setswana

Shona

Somali

Sotho, Northern

Sotho, Southern

South African Sign Language

Swati

Taa

Tamil

Telugu

Tsonga

Tswa

Urdu

Venda

Xhosa

Zulu

All catalogue fields

152 fields recorded

rog3: SF
iso3: ZAF
iso2: ZA
ctry: South Africa
poplpeoples: 65203000
cntpeoples: 63
cntpeopleslr: 9
poplpeopleslr: 1302000
jpscalectry: 5
rol3officiallanguage: eng
officiallang: English
rlg3primary: 1
religionprimary: Christianity
percentchristianity: 76.81006800902
percentevangelical: 21.119627598161
c_10_40window: N
rog2: AFR
continent: Africa
regioncode: 7
regionname: Africa, East and Southern
workersneeded: 28
harvest_rog3: SF
harvest_iso3: ZAF
harvest_iso2: ZA
harvest_owcountrycode: SOUT
harvest_ethnologuecountrycode: ZA
harvest_countrynumber: 195
harvest_ctry: South Africa
harvest_ctryshort: South Africa
harvest_countrynamechinese: 南非
harvest_countrynamechineseshort: 南非
harvest_countrynamedutch: Zuid-Afrika
harvest_countrynamefrench: Afrique du Sud
harvest_countrynamefrenchshort: Afrique du Sud
harvest_countrynamegerman: Südafrika
harvest_countrynamegermanshort: Südafrika
harvest_countrynameindonesian: Afrika Selatan
harvest_countrynameindonesianshort: Afrika Selatan
harvest_countrynameitalian: Sudafrica
harvest_countrynameitalianshort: Sudafrica
harvest_countrynamekorean: 남아프리카
harvest_countrynamekoreanshort: 남아프리카
harvest_countrynamenorwegian: Sør-Afrika
harvest_countrynamenorwegianshort: Sør-Afrika
harvest_countrynameportuguese: África do Sul
harvest_countrynameportugueseshort: África do Sul
harvest_countrynamerussian: Южно-Африканская
harvest_countrynamerussianshort: Южно-Африканская
harvest_countrynamespanish: Sudáfrica
harvest_countrynamespanishshort: Sudáfrica
harvest_countrynamevietnamese: Nam Phi
harvest_countrynamevietnameseshort: Nam Phi
harvest_chineseconcatenationprefix: 在
harvest_frenchconcatenationprefix: d'
harvest_germanconcatenationprefix: in
harvest_indonesianconcatenationprefix: di
harvest_italianconcatenationprefix: -
harvest_koreanconcatenationprefix: 의
harvest_norwegianconcatenationprefix: i
harvest_portugueseconcatenationprefix: na
harvest_russianconcatenationprefix: B
harvest_spanishconcatenationprefix: en
harvest_vietnameseconcatenationprefix: ở
harvest_ethnologuemapexists: Y
harvest_rog2: AFR
harvest_regioncode2414: 6
harvest_regioncode: 7
harvest_unsr: 018
harvest_worldabc: C
harvest_maniregioncode: AI
harvest_capital: Pretoria (administrative)
harvest_population: 64747000
harvest_populationsource: UN Country Population (2025)
harvest_prayercastvideo: https://prayercast.com/south-africa.html
harvest_waldnerguide: prayer-guide-sf+lt+wz.pdf
harvest_unmap: https://un.org/geospatial/content/south-africa
harvest_jpscale: 5
harvest_c_10_40window: N
harvest_c_10_40windoworiginal: N
harvest_owpctevang: 21.1
harvest_owpctcharismatic: 24.365677
harvest_owevangelicalgrowthrate: 2.2
harvest_owcountrypage: south-africa
harvest_literacyrate: 87
harvest_literacysource: Ethnologue
harvest_percenturbanized: 66
harvest_rol3officiallanguage: eng
harvest_rol3secondarylanguage: afr
harvest_rlg3primary: 1
harvest_rlg4primary: 2
harvest_pctanimist: 13.5
harvest_pctbahai: 0.42
harvest_pctbuddhism: 0
harvest_pctchinese: 0.03
harvest_pcthindu: 1.2
harvest_pctislam: 1.73
harvest_pctsikh: 0
harvest_pctjudaism: 0.15
harvest_pctnonreligious: 0
harvest_pctother: 7.73
harvest_pctchristian: 75.23999999999999
harvest_pctchristianprotestant: 15.21
harvest_pctchristianindependent: 39.82
harvest_pctchristiananglican: 2.81
harvest_pctchristianromancatholic: 6.04
harvest_pctchristianorthodoxcatholic: 0.1
harvest_pctchristianmarginal: 0.66
harvest_pctchristianunaffiliated: 10.6
harvest_pctchristiandoublyprofessing: 0
harvest_pctchristianother: 0
harvest_pctchristianextra: 0
harvest_rop1: A013
harvest_hdiyear: 2015
harvest_hdivalue: 0.666
harvest_hdirank: 119
harvest_internetusers: 54
harvest_flashmapzoom: 300
harvest_flashmapzoomx: -112
harvest_flashmapzoomy: -151
harvest_googlemapzoom: 5
harvest_googlemaplat: -29
harvest_googlemaplng: 24
harvest_ctrylatitude: -30.559482
harvest_ctrylongitude: 22.937506
harvest_securitylevel: 0
harvest_ethnolinguisticmap: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/africa/south_africa_racial_1979.jpg
harvest_statedeptreligiousfreedom: https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/south-africa/
harvest_provincesdisplayable: Y
harvest_adm1label: Provinces
harvest_wcdsubregioncode: 104
harvest_poplgrowthrate: 0.8312264682878918
harvest_godreportsurl: http://blog.godreports.com/country/?countrycode=za&joshua=sf
harvest_datareportalurl: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-south-africa
harvest_internetusage: 56
harvest_internetusagesourceyear: 2017
harvest_biblesocietyurl: https://www.biblesociety.co.za/
harvest_areasquaremiles: 471444
harvest_areasquarekilometers: 1218363
harvest_populationpersquaremile: 93
harvest_countryphonecode: 27
harvest_owpctchristian1986: 71.59999999999999
harvest_owpctevangelical1986: 15
harvest_owpctchristian1993: 72.59999999999999
harvest_owpctevangelical1993: 16.5
harvest_owpctchristian2001: 73.52
harvest_owpctevangelical2001: 19.3
harvest_religiondatayear: 2010
harvest_internetctrycode: .za
harvest_worldfactbookurl: https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/south-africa
harvest_source: pjj
harvest_editname: BM
harvest_editdate: 09/12/02 00:00:00