Cameroon Languages, Literacy, Maps, Endangered Languages, Population, Official Use (CM)

Summary:

Cameroon is a country in Africa that is home to 29,037,000 people. It is also home to 273 living indigenous languages. It was also home to 9 indigenous languages that are now extinct. In addition, 7 living non-indigenous languages are established within the country. Two of these, English and French, are the official languages of the country. In formal education, 5 indigenous languages are used as languages of instruction.

Dashboard

Country Location
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Demographics
29,037,000
people
273
living indigenous languages
77%
literate
Indigenous Language Vitality Count
1. Institutional
  11
2. Stable
  168
3. Endangered
  94
4. Extinct
  9
Details
This graph shows a profile of languages indigenous to Cameroon with respect to their level of language vitality.
Institutional — The language has been developed to the point that it is used and sustained by institutions beyond the home and community.
Stable — The language is not being sustained by formal institutions, but it is still the norm in the home and community that all children learn and use the language.
Endangered — It is no longer the norm that children learn and use this language.
Extinct - The language is no longer used and no one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language.
These four summary levels have been derived by grouping levels in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), which is the more fine-grained scale that Ethnologue uses to assess the status of every language in terms of development versus endangerment; see Language Status for a description of the levels of that scale. See also the pages on Development and Endangerment for more discussion.

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Ethnologue Country Digests

Browse Country Digests

Explore all 280 languages used in Cameroon with Ethnologue: Languages of Cameroon—a downloadable PDF document that provides detailed analysis presented in formats not available in the online version of Ethnologue. It includes:

Comprehensive country overview.
Statistical summaries by language status, size, and family.
Alphabetical listing of languages in the country, with in-depth descriptions.
Full-color language map(s) for visual reference.
Listings by population, status, family, and region.
Indexes of ISO 639 codes and alternate language names.

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Indigenous Languages

Families

The indigenous languages of Cameroon belong to the following families.

Language Policy Conventions

Cameroon has adopted the following international conventions which speak to indigenous language rights.

ACHPR (1989)
CPPDCE (2006)
CSICH (2012)
ICCPR (1984)
UNCRPD (2023)
UNDRIP (2007)

Cameroon

Summary:

Dashboard

Country Location

Demographics

Indigenous Language Vitality Count