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Written languages

A written language is a language in a specific script: Punjabi written in Arabic and Punjabi written in Gurmukhi are two entries, because they need different characters — and different fonts. There are 346 in the Unicode CLDR data, ordered here by how many people read and write them. For each one: the standard characters the language requires, and exactly how many fonts in the snapshot of 21 October 2026 cover the full standard set.

Written language People Countries Standard characters Fonts covering the standard set
English (Latin) 1,728,473,504 152 26 134,155
Chinese (Simplified) 1,286,444,446 7 2,210 5
Hindi (Devanagari) 580,318,483 6 67 63
Spanish (Latin) 507,599,381 39 33 80,386
Arabic 378,792,526 38 45 76
French (Latin) 332,956,351 64 42 62,198
Urdu (Arabic) 313,093,257 5 38 44
Bangla 279,893,704 5 68 13
Portuguese (Latin) 249,463,919 16 39 78,805
Russian (Cyrillic) 201,151,469 24 33 1,861
Swahili (Latin) 194,102,079 9 24 134,177
Indonesian (Latin) 180,519,583 2 26 134,155
Punjabi (Arabic) 176,654,800 1 44 43
German (Latin) 141,873,197 27 30 70,056
Japanese 117,608,755 3 2,311 65
Telugu 101,457,360 1 70 7
Marathi (Devanagari) 98,639,100 1 64 63
Javanese (Latin) 96,145,858 2 29 79,807
Vietnamese (Latin) 92,370,781 4 89 1,484
Tamil 90,608,137 8 47 10
Persian (Arabic) 89,208,446 9 43 52
Turkish (Latin) 82,419,542 12 30 11,142
Cantonese (Traditional) 81,532,220 4 2,470 4
Korean 79,278,717 7 11,172 6
Cantonese (Simplified) 73,634,080 1 2,124 4
Filipino (Latin) 73,198,318 4 27 81,237
Italian (Latin) 70,475,319 15 32 80,497
Gujarati 65,626,183 4 68 8
Pashto (Arabic) 58,062,881 4 60 23
Thai 55,936,800 1 73 143
Kannada 52,137,810 1 71 4
Nigerian Pidgin (Latin) 49,716,870 1 32 1,521
Malayalam 45,922,589 7 51 6
Odia 45,092,160 1 62 4
apc (Arabic) 43,682,528 6 45 76
Punjabi (Gurmukhi) 42,948,380 5 69 9
Hausa (Latin) 41,875,124 3 27 392
Sindhi (Arabic) 41,518,338 2 52 34
Polish (Latin) 41,500,501 9 32 12,183
Amharic (Ethiopic) 39,176,975 2 282 7
Chinese (Traditional) 39,078,482 15 2,179 4
Oromo (Latin) 38,264,431 3 26 134,155
Burmese (Myanmar) 37,171,608 2 60 13
Malay (Latin) 36,798,159 4 26 134,155
Bhojpuri (Devanagari) 34,639,016 3 48 71
Sundanese (Latin) 33,787,440 1 27 82,698
Dutch (Latin) 32,854,898 10 37 15,317
Yoruba (Latin) 31,761,816 2 40 302
Uzbek (Latin) 31,561,502 3 27 1,077
Igbo (Latin) 30,777,110 1 28 1,498
skr (Arabic) 30,283,680 1 49 9
Cebuano (Latin) 28,386,480 1 19 134,251
Malagasy (Latin) 26,507,430 1 27 6,655
Ukrainian (Cyrillic) 24,080,585 6 34 768
Azerbaijani (Arabic) 22,517,134 3 37 18
Nepali (Devanagari) 21,735,357 3 67 63
Maithili (Devanagari) 20,333,024 2 45 71
Romanian (Latin) 20,043,507 8 31 6,600
Nyanja (Latin) 18,855,692 4 24 12,278
Somali (Latin) 18,630,626 6 18 134,368
Assamese (Bangla) 18,318,690 1 59 18
Haryanvi (Devanagari) 16,909,560 1 58 71
Khmer 15,186,693 1 72 14
Zulu (Latin) 14,969,091 5 26 134,155
Sinhala 14,948,168 1 74 4
Shona (Latin) 13,891,824 1 24 134,177
Akan (Latin) 13,489,749 1 22 911
Swedish (Latin) 13,338,377 4 31 80,004
Czech (Latin) 13,236,058 2 41 12,214
Wolof (Latin) 13,203,204 2 29 5,862
Kazakh (Cyrillic) 12,966,989 2 42 833
Hungarian (Latin) 12,313,192 9 32 12,843
Greek 12,249,402 10 36 1,023
Low German (Latin) 12,049,256 2 30 80,240
Kinyarwanda (Latin) 11,963,415 3 26 134,155
Quechua (Latin) 11,942,570 3 17 2,370
Tigrinya (Ethiopic) 10,929,719 3 301 5
Xhosa (Latin) 10,901,721 2 26 134,155
Tajik (Cyrillic) 10,394,100 1 35 682
Bambara (Latin) 10,115,676 1 27 474
Azerbaijani (Latin) 10,101,162 3 33 2,241
Afrikaans (Latin) 9,966,165 3 37 80,318
Kikuyu (Latin) 9,901,888 1 20 10,944
Haitian Creole (Latin) 9,520,659 1 26 81,029
Hebrew 9,402,620 1 27 219
Fula (Latin) 8,955,865 12 27 406
Baluchi (Arabic) 8,751,140 4 33 25
Rundi (Latin) 8,561,763 1 26 134,155
Sichuan Yi (Yi) 8,496,240 1 1,165 5
Swiss German (Latin) 8,439,156 4 29 81,909
Standard Moroccan Tamazight (Tifinagh) 8,225,272 1 32 22
Catalan (Latin) 8,218,781 4 37 56,445
Uyghur (Arabic) 7,791,229 2 34 31
Santali (Ol Chiki) 7,750,215 1 36 5
Serbian (Latin) 7,709,590 6 27 12,389
Bulgarian (Cyrillic) 7,684,020 6 30 1,915
Danish (Latin) 7,247,744 4 29 71,998
Kurdish (Latin) 7,214,784 5 31 13,065
Serbian (Cyrillic) 7,189,404 6 30 1,630
Turkmen (Latin) 7,177,805 3 30 12,707
Tok Pisin (Latin) 7,132,802 1 21 134,246
Bemba (Latin) 7,071,694 1 20 134,231
Southern Sotho (Latin) 6,957,964 2 22 134,231
Slovak (Latin) 6,809,720 4 43 11,201
Albanian (Latin) 6,798,944 7 27 79,817
Croatian (Latin) 6,790,797 9 27 12,389
Coptic 6,674,820 1 32 26
Tswana (Latin) 6,529,140 4 23 81,065
Luyia (Latin) 6,407,104 1 26 134,155
Ganda (Latin) 6,406,790 1 24 5,967
Guarani (Latin) 6,095,531 3 30 1,254
Kashmiri (Arabic) 5,951,564 2 46 14
Betawi (Latin) 5,912,802 1 29 8,963
Finnish (Latin) 5,789,395 4 31 54,995
Luo (Latin) 5,708,147 1 23 134,215
Northern Sotho (Latin) 5,681,604 1 25 58,013
Central Kurdish (Arabic) 5,606,845 2 33 33
Norwegian Bokmål (Latin) 5,511,222 2 34 71,458
Norwegian (Latin) 5,509,731 2 34 71,458
Lao 5,487,956 1 55 14
Uzbek (Cyrillic) 5,483,754 2 33 773
Armenian 5,443,505 8 38 112
Ewe (Latin) 5,320,859 2 48 294
Tsonga (Latin) 5,313,551 3 26 134,155
Kurdish (Arabic) 4,794,503 3 33 33
Konkani (Devanagari) 4,509,216 1 77 63
Zarma (Latin) 4,478,276 1 32 478
Kalenjin (Latin) 4,426,726 1 21 134,230
Kamba (Latin) 4,426,726 1 27 10,943
Mazanderani (Arabic) 4,419,345 1 43 52
Zhuang (Latin) 4,389,724 1 26 134,155
Makhuwa (Latin) 4,335,630 1 22 134,169
Georgian 4,324,687 3 33 71
Lingala (Latin) 3,986,653 4 41 586
Southern Kurdish (Arabic) 3,977,410 1 34 27
Lombard (Latin) 3,838,283 2 26 134,155
Bosnian (Cyrillic) 3,760,683 1 30 1,630
Bosnian (Latin) 3,760,683 1 27 12,389
Shan (Myanmar) 3,748,859 2 58 1
Mongolian 3,681,704 1 45 4
Kabyle (Latin) 3,667,755 1 34 356
Central Atlas Tamazight (Latin) 3,663,985 1 31 244
Malay (Arabic) 3,403,837 3 43 8
Galician (Latin) 3,323,918 2 34 80,157
Tachelhit (Latin) 3,252,721 1 31 244
Tachelhit (Tifinagh) 3,252,721 1 32 22
Nyankole (Latin) 3,104,829 1 26 134,155
Tibetan 3,061,778 3 87 6
Mongolian (Cyrillic) 3,054,075 2 35 1,074
Belarusian (Cyrillic) 2,991,098 3 32 1,674
Kyrgyz (Cyrillic) 2,962,608 1 31 944
Gusii (Latin) 2,854,074 1 24 134,177
Dogri (Devanagari) 2,818,260 1 70 29
Sango (Latin) 2,768,970 1 34 80,323
Chiga (Latin) 2,661,282 1 26 134,155
Luba-Katanga (Latin) 2,654,269 1 38 661
Soga (Latin) 2,611,999 1 26 134,155
Lithuanian (Latin) 2,405,298 3 32 11,303
Teso (Latin) 2,353,060 2 23 134,198
Swati (Latin) 2,345,504 3 26 134,155
Meru (Latin) 2,329,856 1 28 10,943
Afar (Latin) 2,305,972 3 22 134,213
Kangri (Devanagari) 2,254,608 1 66 44
Western Balochi (Arabic) 2,186,208 3 37 31
Wolaytta (Ethiopic) 2,133,900 1 432 4
Northern Luri (Arabic) 2,112,834 2 43 15
North Ndebele (Latin) 2,058,048 1 25 134,157
Occitan (Latin) 2,055,966 2 37 79,011
Riffian (Latin) 2,045,261 2 31 411
Bodo (Devanagari) 1,972,782 1 61 71
Sindhi (Devanagari) 1,972,782 1 63 27
Tatar (Cyrillic) 1,971,494 1 39 815
Slovenian (Latin) 1,967,013 4 25 13,930
Masai (Latin) 1,943,874 2 47 482
Uzbek (Arabic) 1,885,715 1 50 24
Rohingya (Hanifi) 1,872,055 2 39 1
Bashkir (Cyrillic) 1,830,673 1 42 742
Chuvash (Cyrillic) 1,830,673 1 37 856
Makonde (Latin) 1,686,552 1 26 134,155
Qʼeqchiʼ (Latin) 1,633,484 2 24 2,460
Kpelle (Latin) 1,618,926 2 29 384
Macedonian (Cyrillic) 1,612,846 3 31 1,618
Kʼicheʼ (Latin) 1,569,947 1 25 2,372
Manipuri (Bangla) 1,568,600 2 59 18
Sena (Latin) 1,534,146 1 39 78,805
Makhuwa-Meetto (Latin) 1,500,795 1 24 134,177
Venda (Latin) 1,499,942 2 28 943
Kara-Kalpak (Cyrillic) 1,458,023 8 41 765
Kazakh (Arabic) 1,444,926 4 30 32
Hindi (Latin) 1,409,130 1 26 134,155
Rajasthani (Devanagari) 1,409,130 1 49 71
Venetian (Latin) 1,381,574 5 29 80,482
Norwegian Nynorsk (Latin) 1,377,432 1 34 71,458
Irish (Latin) 1,254,050 2 23 81,063
Bakhtiari (Arabic) 1,237,417 1 43 52
Azerbaijani (Cyrillic) 1,185,333 2 33 704
Morisyen (Latin) 1,179,450 1 25 134,160
Bena (Latin) 1,146,856 1 25 134,169
Shambala (Latin) 1,146,856 1 23 134,179
Tigre (Ethiopic) 1,141,913 1 452 4
Latvian (Latin) 1,098,762 1 33 10,034
Sardinian (Latin) 1,036,403 1 26 80,546
Basque (Latin) 1,034,495 2 28 79,503
Ga (Latin) 968,495 1 26 877
South Ndebele (Latin) 967,082 1 25 134,157
Ewondo (Latin) 959,949 1 52 270
Chechen (Cyrillic) 929,419 1 34 746
Welsh (Latin) 920,985 2 49 6,411
Yiddish (Hebrew) 916,209 4 34 142
Embu (Latin) 873,696 1 28 10,943
Estonian (Latin) 853,780 2 32 55,025
Hmong Njua (Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong) 815,128 10 56 0
Asu (Latin) 809,545 1 24 134,177
Chakma 765,690 2 53 2
Western Frisian (Latin) 764,213 1 42 15,269
Koyraboro Senni (Latin) 747,680 1 32 478
Nuer (Latin) 711,407 1 36 304
N’Ko 699,310 1 41 12
Walloon (Latin) 694,701 1 43 62,143
Piedmontese (Latin) 670,614 1 30 76,093
Asturian (Latin) 614,645 1 32 1,593
Pijin (Latin) 595,975 1 22 134,231
Langi (Latin) 586,920 1 33 683
Breton (Latin) 567,509 1 29 2,309
Ossetic (Cyrillic) 558,448 2 34 935
Kabuverdianu (Latin) 556,023 1 24 81,239
Ligurian (Latin) 524,298 1 46 71,143
Silesian (Latin) 503,702 1 34 7,761
Sicilian (Latin) 499,912 1 33 1,714
Machame (Latin) 499,220 1 24 134,177
Rombo (Latin) 499,220 1 24 134,177
Vunjo (Latin) 499,220 1 24 134,177
Jola-Fonyi (Latin) 490,035 1 32 5,863
Taita (Latin) 477,620 1 24 134,177
Maltese (Latin) 469,730 1 33 9,182
Yakut (Cyrillic) 450,627 1 26 661
Luxembourgish (Latin) 449,740 1 29 81,065
Bambara (N’Ko) 439,812 1 27 13
Erzya (Cyrillic) 436,545 1 33 1,861
Ngiemboon (Latin) 433,525 1 54 427
Dzongkha (Tibetan) 418,555 2 58 9
Divehi (Thaana) 385,308 2 35 24
Koyra Chiini (Latin) 373,840 1 32 478
Basaa (Latin) 371,593 1 62 137
Icelandic (Latin) 364,036 1 32 53,099
Buriat (Cyrillic) 309,806 1 36 1,022
Mundang (Latin) 309,661 1 33 226
Nama (Latin) 308,403 1 31 553
Moksha (Cyrillic) 295,724 1 33 1,861
Mapuche (Latin) 279,970 1 25 1,047
Samburu (Latin) 267,933 1 22 134,216
Colognian (Latin) 252,357 1 36 11,060
Syriac 230,464 2 70 5
Saho (Latin) 228,383 1 22 134,213
Papiamento (Latin) 216,653 3 31 80,270
Vai 206,616 1 274 4
Tuvinian (Cyrillic) 183,067 1 36 944
Navajo (Latin) 170,982 1 31 1,171
Akoose (Latin) 167,217 1 52 544
Kako (Latin) 167,217 1 47 309
Corsican (Latin) 164,099 1 29 80,346
Latgalian (Latin) 160,311 1 35 9,967
Duala (Latin) 148,637 1 33 357
Rwa (Latin) 148,417 1 24 134,177
Metaʼ (Latin) 145,541 1 32 861
Māori (Latin) 144,514 1 19 11,804
Sangu (Latin) 134,924 1 22 134,217
Abkhazian (Cyrillic) 111,859 2 40 195
Ngomba (Latin) 105,285 1 45 193
Tongan (Latin) 99,645 1 27 990
Bafia (Latin) 99,092 1 34 616
Blin (Ethiopic) 82,471 1 289 4
Kenyang (Latin) 77,415 1 41 416
Scottish Gaelic (Latin) 75,305 1 23 80,558
Faroese (Latin) 72,984 2 29 55,309
Anii (Latin) 57,468 2 49 224
Kalaallisut (Latin) 55,679 2 29 71,998
Northern Sami (Latin) 52,950 3 29 5,471
Kaingang (Latin) 52,812 1 26 2,532
Romansh (Latin) 44,303 1 32 80,497
Aghem (Latin) 43,353 1 52 334
Inuktitut (Latin) 42,674 1 16 21,581
Inuktitut (Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics) 42,674 1 109 18
Kuvi (Latin) 40,865 1 33 860
suz (Devanagari) 40,459 1 31 71
Friulian (Latin) 36,579 1 37 78,960
Hawaiian (Latin) 30,435 1 18 1,016
lld (Latin) 29,263 1 41 13,969
Nheengatu (Latin) 26,981 3 21 2,727
Cherokee 26,331 1 85 3
Aragonese (Latin) 24,586 1 32 80,835
Laz (Latin) 21,030 1 32 1,376
Sanskrit (Devanagari) 16,910 1 70 29
Upper Sorbian (Latin) 13,459 1 36 12,338
Choctaw (Latin) 11,285 1 21 294
Walser (Latin) 11,035 2 39 10,825
Northern Frisian (Latin) 10,094 1 28 11,180
Mi'kmaw (Latin) 9,311 1 22 912
Kwasio (Latin) 8,980 1 57 275
Lakota (Latin) 8,207 1 30 587
Tasawaq (Latin) 7,903 1 32 478
Lower Sorbian (Latin) 6,982 1 37 11,590
Swampy Cree (Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics) 4,655 1 97 10
Muscogee (Latin) 4,104 1 21 2,361
Warlpiri (Latin) 2,489 1 15 134,289
Yangben (Latin) 2,291 1 47 616
Cornish (Latin) 1,985 1 26 134,155
Manx (Latin) 1,661 1 27 80,840
Mohawk (Latin) 1,591 1 22 2,331
Lule Sami (Latin) 1,483 1 24 13,786
mhn (Latin) 1,402 1 37 80,332
Okanagan (Latin) 1,040 2 33 174
Inari Sami (Latin) 619 1 31 5,761
Skolt Sami (Latin) 619 1 36 1,012
Esperanto (Latin) 298 1 28 9,014
Southern Sami (Latin) 297 1 24 80,561
Interlingua (Latin) 137 2 26 134,155
Pali (Latin) 137 1 40 910
Prussian (Latin) 39 1 39 385
Interlingue (Latin) 1 1 31 81,044
Baluchi (Latin) — — 26 81,476
Caddo (Latin) — 1 30 221
Chickasaw (Latin) — 1 19 1,224
Chinese (Latin) — — 64 250
Church Slavic (Cyrillic) — 1 72 12
English (Deseret) — — 40 6
English (Shavian) — 1 48 9
Fula (Adlam) — 12 32 0
Geez (Ethiopic) — 1 213 5
Ido (Latin) — 1 26 134,155
Kara-Kalpak (Latin) — — 32 1,671
Kashmiri (Devanagari) — — 50 56
Konkani (Latin) — — 35 2,693
Kuvi (Devanagari) — — 43 63
Kuvi (Odia) — — 41 5
Kuvi (Telugu) — — 44 1
Lojban (Latin) — 1 24 134,166
Manipuri (Meitei Mayek) — — 45 2
Obolo (Latin) — 1 39 306
Osage — 1 40 2
Samogitian (Latin) — 1 32 3,932
Santali (Devanagari) — — 33 71
Toki Pona (Latin) — — 14 134,305
Vai (Latin) — 1 43 314
Volapük (Latin) — — 27 81,910
suz (Sunuwar) — — 33 1

Character sets: Unicode CLDR exemplar characters. People and countries: Unicode CLDR territory data — the population that reads or writes the language, summed over the territories that list it. Font counts: snapshot of 21 October 2026; a font is one style of a family, deduplicated.