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KE

The Republic of Kenya

Kenya

Summary:

Kenya is a country in Africa that is home to 55,101,000 people. It is also home to 61 living indigenous languages. One of these, Swahili, is an official language of the country. Kenya was also home to 1 indigenous language that is now extinct. In addition, 7 living non-indigenous languages are established within the country. One of these, English, is also an official language of the country. In formal education, 8 indigenous languages are used as languages of instruction.

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  • Country Location

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  • Demographics

    55,101,000

    people

    61

    living indigenous languages

    82%
    literate

  • Indigenous Language Vitality Count

    1. 18
    2. 37
    3. 6
    4. 1
    Details

    This graph shows a profile of languages indigenous to Kenya 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

Country Digest

Browse Country Digests

Explore all 68 languages used in Kenya with Ethnologue: Languages of Kenya—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 Kenya belong to the following families.

Language Policy Conventions

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

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