Why languages disappear, which ones are most endangered?
By Micah Jonah, February 21, 2026
Global Overview
More than 7,000 languages are spoken worldwide, yet nearly 3,000 of them or 40 percent are endangered. English is the most widely spoken, with around 1.5 billion speakers, followed by Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and Standard Arabic.
Scripts and Writing Systems
There are 293 known scripts globally, with 156 still in use today. The Latin script is the most widespread, supporting over 305 languages and used by more than 70 percent of the world’s population.
Language Endangerment:
3,193 languages (44%) are endangered
3,479 languages (49%) are stable
487 languages (7%) are institutional, used in government and media
337 languages are dormant; 454 are extinct
88.1 million people speak an endangered language as their mother tongue
Regional Examples:
Oceania: Yugambeh (Australia) being revived via community initiatives
Asia: Ainu (Japan) critically endangered
Africa: Ongota (Ethiopia) critically endangered
Americas: Louisiana Creole (USA), Leco (Bolivia) mostly elderly speakers
Europe: Cornish (UK) once extinct, now revived with 563 speakers
Key Insight:
Languages become endangered when communities adopt dominant languages, highlighting the importance of preservation efforts to maintain global linguistic and cultural diversity.
