Afrikaans Language: Number of Speakers per Country

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language primarily spoken in South Africa, where it ranks as the third most spoken language after Zulu and Xhosa. It also has smaller speaker communities in neighboring countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia, as well as among expatriates in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, and Canada.

Speakers of Afrikaans

Afrikaans is spoken by approximately 6 million people worldwide. The distribution of speakers by country is as follows:

CountryNumber of Speakers
South Africa5,500,000
Namibia90,000
Zambia41,000
Botswana20,000
USA16,000
Swaziland13,000
Australia13,000
Canada2,400

Status of Afrikaans

Afrikaans is one of the official languages of South Africa, but its use has been gradually declining in favor of English and indigenous African languages.

Varieties of Afrikaans

Afrikaans is not uniform across the country; it has three main dialects:

  1. Cape Afrikaans
    • Spoken in the Western Cape.
    • Influenced by Malay and English.
  2. Orange River Afrikaans
    • Prevalent in the northwestern Cape.
    • Influenced by Nama, an indigenous language.
  3. Eastern Cape Afrikaans
    • Spoken in the rest of the country.
    • Serves as the basis of standard Afrikaans.
Afrikaans Language: Number of Speakers per Country

Historical Documents in Afrikaans

Afrikaans has a rich literary history dating back to the 19th century:

  1. 1869 – Bayānu ddīn (Exposition of the Religion)
    • Translation of an Islamic text into Afrikaans written in Arabic script.
  2. 1875 – The Association of True Afrikaners
    • Published the first newspaper, magazine, and literary texts in Afrikaans.
  3. 1933 – Translation of the Bible
    • A landmark in the development and standardization of the language.

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