On the wire
Latin AmericaFuture of Amazon rainforest policies at stake in Brazilian presidential electionUnited StatesNative American drive mining company off sacred landCanada$2.2M Boost For Quantum Test Targeting Iron Issues In First Nations GroupsWorldCelebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day with City Hall Flag Raising and Native-Led Events Across SeattleOceaniaMāori Band Coterie Revives Iconic Warriors Anthem — LBBLatin AmericaWake Forest-CINCIA Researchers Brief Pope on Amazon Mercury Pollution | NewswiseWorldIndigenous Peoples Day: Reflections on 500 Years of ResistanceWorldIndigenous Peoples Day 2026WorldPRCS Announces Facility Schedule Changes for Indigenous Peoples’ DayWorldIndigenous Peoples History and Storytelling is topic on October 6Latin AmericaFuture of Amazon rainforest policies at stake in Brazilian presidential electionUnited StatesNative American drive mining company off sacred landCanada$2.2M Boost For Quantum Test Targeting Iron Issues In First Nations GroupsWorldCelebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day with City Hall Flag Raising and Native-Led Events Across SeattleOceaniaMāori Band Coterie Revives Iconic Warriors Anthem — LBBLatin AmericaWake Forest-CINCIA Researchers Brief Pope on Amazon Mercury Pollution | NewswiseWorldIndigenous Peoples Day: Reflections on 500 Years of ResistanceWorldIndigenous Peoples Day 2026WorldPRCS Announces Facility Schedule Changes for Indigenous Peoples’ DayWorldIndigenous Peoples History and Storytelling is topic on October 6
Kabila

How many languages are endangered, and why are they disappearing?

There are about 7,000 living languages, and at least 40% of them are considered endangered, according to the United Nations and Ethnologue. Most are indigenous languages with few speakers. They decline when children stop learning them, usually because schools, jobs and prejudice favour a dominant language.

A language is endangered when it is no longer being passed on in the home. Once the youngest speakers are adults, the language can fall silent within a generation or two. Many languages now have only a handful of elderly speakers.

The causes are social, not natural. Many governments banned or discouraged indigenous languages in schools. Children in residential schools were punished for speaking them. Migration to cities, loss of land and the pull of national and global languages add to the pressure.

The loss is uneven. A small number of languages are spoken by most of the world's people, while thousands are each spoken by small communities. When such a language goes, knowledge of plants, places, history and ways of thinking can go with it.

Communities are responding with immersion schools, recordings, dictionaries and apps. Māori and Hawaiian are well-known examples of revival, both built on preschools where children hear only the language. The United Nations has declared 2022 to 2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.

Words used here

Endangered languageLanguage revitalisationMother tongueLanguage familyAssimilationResidential school

Sources

Related questions

Seven peoples, once a week

Every Monday: seven peoples you may never have heard of, who they are and where they live.