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Tanzania

Tanzania Language Stats

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Definitions

  • Languages: A rank ordering of languages starting with the largest and sometimes includes the percent of total population speaking that language.
  • Languages > Note: This entry provides a rank ordering of languages starting with the largest and sometimes includes the percent of total population speaking that language.
  • Linguistic diversity index: LDI.
  • Major language(s): Country major languages.
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STAT AMOUNT DATE RANK HISTORY
English status Used by some Asian residents as mother tongue. Taught in secondary school and university. Bible 1535-1989. 1989
Languages Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages; note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources including Arabic and English; it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages 2008
Languages > A note Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources, including Arabic and English, and it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages 2003
Languages > Note Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources including Arabic and English; it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages 2011
Linguistic diversity index 0.965 2009 4th out of 200
Major language(s) English, Swahili 2013

SOURCES: Ethnologue; CIA World Factbooks 18 December 2003 to 28 March 2011; CIA World Factbook, December 2003; Wikipedia: Linguistic diversity index (Rankings by country) (UNESCO World Report – Investing in Cultural Diversity and Intercultural Dialogue); British Broadcasting Corporation 2014

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