List of Indian languages by total speakers
Encyclopedia
India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 is home to several hundred languages
Languages of India
The languages of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages—Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages...

. Most Indians speak a language belonging either to the Indo-European
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a family of several hundred related languages and dialects, including most major current languages of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and South Asia and also historically predominant in Anatolia...

 (ca. 74%), the Dravidian
Dravidian languages
The Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and...

 (ca. 24%), the Austroasiatic (Munda
Munda languages
-Anderson :Gregory Anderson's 1999 proposal is as follows. Individual languages are highlighted in italics.*North Munda **Korku**Kherwarian***Santhali***Mundari*South Munda **Kharia–Juang***Juang***Kharia...

) (ca. 1.2%), or the Tibeto-Burman
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....

 (ca. 0.6%) families, with some languages of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 still unclassified.
The SIL Ethnologue lists 415 living languages for India.

Overview

Hindi is the most widespread language of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of "Hindi" as a broad variety of "Hindi languages
Hindi languages
The Hindi languages, also known as Madhya and the Central Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages, is a subset of the varieties of Hindi spoken across northern India that descend from the Madhya prakrits, and includes the official languages of India and Pakistan, Hindi and Urdu...

". The native speakers of Hindi so defined accounts for about 43% of Indians.

Indian English
Indian English
Indian English is an umbrella term used to describe dialects of the English language spoken primarily in the Republic of India.As a result of British colonial rule until Indian independence in 1947 English is an official language of India and is widely used in both spoken and literary contexts...

 is recorded as the native language of 226,449 Indians in the 2001 census. English is the second "language of the Union" besides Hindi.

Thirteen languages account for more than 1% of Indian population each, and between themselves for over 95%; all of them are "scheduled languages of the constitution."
Scheduled languages spoken by less than 1% of Indians are Santali
Santali language
Santhali is a language in the Santhali subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. It is spoken by about six million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan . Most of its speakers live in India, in the states of Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal. It has...

 (0.64%), Nepali
Nepali language
Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...

 (0.28%), Sindhi
Sindhi language
Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division...

 (0.25%), Manipuri (0.14%), Bodo
Bodo language
Bodo is a language that belongs to the branch of Barish section under Baric division of the Tibeto-Burman languages and spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal...

 (0.13%), Dogri
Dogri language
Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five million people in Pakistan and India, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. Dogri speakers are called Dogras, and the Dogri-speaking...

 (0.01%), spoken in Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...

). The largest language that is not "scheduled" is Bhili
Bhili language
Bhili is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken in west-central India, in the region east of Ahmedabad. Other names for the language include Bhagoria and Bhilboli; varieties are Wagdi and Garasia. Bhili is a member of the Bhil language family, which is related to Gujarati and the Rajasthani language...

 (0.95%), followed by Gondi
Gondi language
Gondi is spoken by the Gondi people. It is a Central-Dravidian language, spoken by about two million people chiefly in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattishgarh and in various adjoining areas of neighbouring states...

 (0.27%), Kumaoni (0.21%), Tulu
Tulu language
The Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...

 (0.17%) and Kurukh
Kurukh language
Kurukh , also called Kurux, Kuṛux or Kuruḵẖ, is a Dravidian language spoken by the Oraon and Kisan tribal peoples of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal, India, as well as in northern Bangladesh. It is most closely related to Brahui and Malto...

 (0.10%)

List by number of native speakers

Ordered by number of speakers as first language. Indian population in 1991 exhibited 19.4% of bilingualism and 7.2% of trilingualism, so that the total percentage of "native languages" is at about 127%.

More than one million speakers

The 2001 census recorded 29 individual languages as having more than 1 million native speakers (0.1% of total population).
Table: Ordered by number of native speakers
Rank Language 2001 census
(total population 1,028.610,328 )
1991 census
(total population 838,583,988)
Encarta
Encarta
Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation from 1993 to 2009. , the complete English version, Encarta Premium, consisted of more than 62,000 articles, numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive contents, timelines, maps and...

 2007 estimate
(worldwide speakers)
Speakers Percentage Speakers Percentage Speakers
1 Hindi
Hindi languages
The Hindi languages, also known as Madhya and the Central Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages, is a subset of the varieties of Hindi spoken across northern India that descend from the Madhya prakrits, and includes the official languages of India and Pakistan, Hindi and Urdu...

 
422,048,642 41.03% 329,518,087 39.29% 366 M
2 Bengali
Bengali language
Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

 
83,369,769 8.11% 69,595,738 8.30% 207 M
3 Telugu  74,002,856 7.19% 66,017,615 7.87% 69.7 M
4 Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 
71,936,894 6.99% 62,481,681 7.45% 68.0 M
5 Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 
60,793,814 5.91% 53,006,368 6.32% 66.0 M
6 Urdu  51,536,111 5.01% 43,406,932 5.18% 60.3 M
7 Gujarati
Gujarati language
Gujarati is an Indo-Aryan language, and part of the greater Indo-European language family. It is derived from a language called Old Gujarati which is the ancestor language of the modern Gujarati and Rajasthani languages...

 
46,091,617 4.48% 40,673,814 4.85% 46.1 M
8 Kannada
Kannada language
Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...

 
37,924,011 3.69% 32,753,676 3.91% 35.3 M
9 Malayalam
Malayalam language
Malayalam , is one of the four major Dravidian languages of southern India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India with official language status in the state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. It is spoken by 35.9 million people...

 
33,066,392 3.21% 30,377,176 3.62% 35.7 M
10 Oriya
Oriya language
Oriya , officially Odia from November, 2011, is an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is mainly spoken in the Indian states of Orissa and West Bengal...

 
33,017,446 3.21% 28,061,313 3.35% 32.3 M
11 Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...

 
29,102,477 2.83% 23,378,744 2.79% 57.1 M
12 Assamese
Assamese language
Assamese is the easternmost Indo-Aryan language. It is used mainly in the state of Assam in North-East India. It is also the official language of Assam. It is also spoken in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and other northeast Indian states. Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language is widely used in...

 
13,168,484 1.28% 13,079,696 1.56% 15.4 M
13 Maithili
Maithili language
Maithili language is spoken in the eastern region of India and South-eastern region of Nepal. The native speakers of Maithili reside in Bihar, Jharkhand,parts of West Bengal and South-east Nepal...

 
12,179,122 1.18% 7,766,921 0.926% 24.2 M
14 Bhili/Bhilodi
Bhili language
Bhili is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken in west-central India, in the region east of Ahmedabad. Other names for the language include Bhagoria and Bhilboli; varieties are Wagdi and Garasia. Bhili is a member of the Bhil language family, which is related to Gujarati and the Rajasthani language...

 
9,582,957 0.93%
15 Santali
Santali language
Santhali is a language in the Santhali subfamily of Austro-Asiatic, related to Ho and Mundari. It is spoken by about six million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan . Most of its speakers live in India, in the states of Jharkhand, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal. It has...

 
6,469,600 0.63% 5,216,325 0.622%
16 Kashmiri
Kashmiri language
Kashmiri is a language from the Dardic sub-group and it is spoken primarily in the Kashmir Valley, in Jammu and Kashmir. There are approximately 5,554,496 speakers in Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Census of 2001. Most of the 105,000 speakers or so in Pakistan are émigrés from the Kashmir...

 
5,527,698 0.54%
17 Nepali
Nepali language
Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...

 
2,871,749 0.28% 2,076,645 0.248% 16.1 M
18 Gondi
Gondi language
Gondi is spoken by the Gondi people. It is a Central-Dravidian language, spoken by about two million people chiefly in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattishgarh and in various adjoining areas of neighbouring states...

 
2,713,790 0.26%
19 Sindhi
Sindhi language
Sindhi is the language of the Sindh region of Pakistan that is spoken by the Sindhi people. In India, it is among 22 constitutionally recognized languages, where Sindhis are a sizeable minority. It is spoken by 53,410,910 people in Pakistan, according to the national government's Statistics Division...

 
2,535,485 0.25% 2,122,848 0.253% 19.7 M
20 Konkani
Konkani language
KonkaniKonkani is a name given to a group of several cognate dialects spoken along the narrow strip of land called Konkan, on the west coast of India. This is, however, somewhat an over-generalisation. Geographically, Konkan is defined roughly as the area between the river Damanganga to the north...

 
2,489,015 0.24% 1,760,607 0.210%
21 Dogri
Dogri language
Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five million people in Pakistan and India, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. Dogri speakers are called Dogras, and the Dogri-speaking...

 
2,282,589 0.22%
22 Khandeshi  2,075,258 0.21%
23 Kurukh
Kurukh language
Kurukh , also called Kurux, Kuṛux or Kuruḵẖ, is a Dravidian language spoken by the Oraon and Kisan tribal peoples of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal, India, as well as in northern Bangladesh. It is most closely related to Brahui and Malto...

 
1,751,489 0.17%
24 Tulu
Tulu language
The Tulu language |?]]]) is a Dravidian language spoken by 1.95 million native speakers mainly in the southwest part of Indian state Karnataka known as Tulu Nadu. In India, 1.72 million people speak it as their mother tongue , increased by 10 percent over the 1991 census...

 
1,722,768 0.17%
25 Meitei/Manipuri  1,466,705* 0.14% 1,270,216 0.151%
26 Bodo
Bodo language
Bodo is a language that belongs to the branch of Barish section under Baric division of the Tibeto-Burman languages and spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal...

 
1,350,478 0.13% 1,221,881 0.146%
27 Khasi
Khasi language
Khasi is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken primarily in Meghalaya state in India by the Khasi people. Khasi is part of the Austroasiatic family of languages, and is fairly closely related to the Munda branch of that family, which is spoken in east&endash;central India.Although most of the 865,000...

 
1,128,575 0.11%
28 Mundari
Mundari language
The Mundari are a small ethnic group of South Sudan and one of the Nilotic peoples.The group is composed of cattle-herders and agriculturalists and are part of Karo people which also includes Bari, Pojulu, Kakwa, Kuku and Nyangwara...

 
1,061,352 0.103%
29 Ho
Ho language
Ho is a Munda language of the Austroasiatic language family spoken primarily in India by about 3,803,126 people. It is written with the Devanagari and the Varang Kshiti scripts. It is spoken by the Ho people. 0.103% of India's Population speaks this language as per the 2001 census.The Script was...

 
1,042,724 0.101%


* Excludes figures of Paomata, Mao-Maram and Purul sub-divisions of Senapati district of Manipur for 2001.

** The percentage of speakers of each language for 2001 has been worked out on the total population of India excluding the population of Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati district of Manipur due to cancellation of census results.

100,000 to one million speakers

Rank Language 2001 census
Speakers Percentage
30 Kui  916,222
31 Garo
Garo language
Garo is the language of the majority of the people of the Garo Hills in the Indian state of Meghalaya. Garo is also used in Kamrup, Dhubri, Goalpara and the Darrang districts of Assam, India as well as in neighboring Bangladesh...

 
889,479
32 Kokborok
Kokborok language
The Borok language, or Kok Borok, also spelled Kokborok and also known as Tripuri, is the native language of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighboring areas of Bangladesh. The word Kok Borok is a compound of kok "language" and borok "people", which is used specifically for...

 
854,023
33 Mizo
Mizo language
The Mizo language is natively spoken by Mizo people in Mizoram, a state in the Indian Union; Chin State of Burma and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The language is also known as Lushai , as Lusei people are the first clan who have an external exposure...

 
674,756
34 Halabi  593,443
35 Korku
Korku language
The Korku language is the language of the Korku tribe of central India. It belongs to the Kolarian or Munda family, isolated in the midst of a Dravidian population. The Korkus are also closely associated with the Nihali people, many of whom have traditionally lived in special quarters of Korku...

 
574,481
36 Munda
Munda languages
-Anderson :Gregory Anderson's 1999 proposal is as follows. Individual languages are highlighted in italics.*North Munda **Korku**Kherwarian***Santhali***Mundari*South Munda **Kharia–Juang***Juang***Kharia...

 
469,357
37 Mishing
Mishing language
Mishing is a Tibetan–Burman language spoken by the Mishing people. There are over 500,000 speakers of the language. It is also known as Plains Miri or Takam....

 
390,583 0.047%
38 Karbi/Mikir
Karbi language
The Karbí language, also known as Mikir or Arleng, is spoken by the Karbi people of Assam. It belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family, but its position is unclear...

 
366,229 0.044%
39 Saurashtra
Saurashtra language
Sourashtra or "Sourashtras" or ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬꢵ refers to a community of people who had their original homes in Gujarat and presently settled almost in all major Towns of Tamil Nadu and are concentrated more in Madurai which is considered as their cultural Headquarters.They have also settled in...

 
310,000 0.037%
40 Savara
Savara language
The Savara language is a South-Central Dravidian language. It is known to be written using the Oriya and Telugu scripts, as well as its own writing system....

 
273,168 0.033%
41 Koya
Koya language
Koya is a South Central Dravidian language of the Kui-Gondi subgroup.It is variously written in the Oriya, Telugu, Devanagari or Roman script...

 
270,994 0.032%
42 Kharia
Kharia language
The Kharia language is an Austro-Asiatic language that is primarily spoken by indigenous Kharia people of eastern India.-Classification:Kharia belongs to the Kharia–Juang branch of the Munda language family...

 
225,556 0.027%
43 Khond/Kondh
Khonds
Khonds, or Kandhs are an aboriginal tribe of India, inhabiting the tributary states of Orissa and Srikakulam, in the Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Their main divisions are into Kutia, or hill Khonds and plain-dwelling Khonds; the landowners are known as Raj Khonds. They are hunter...

 
220,783 0.026%
44 English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 
178,598 0.021%
45 Nishi
Nishi language
Nishi , or East Dafla, is a small Tibetan–Burman language of India. Tagin may be a distinct language, as may Bangni....

 
173,791 0.021%
46 Ao
Ao language
Mongsen Ao is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Ao of Nagaland in northeast India. Conventionally classified as "Naga", the Ao languages are not clearly related to other Naga languages. Gordon estimates that there are 141,000 speakers of Mongsen and Chungli Ao.Missionary grammars from the...

 
172,449 0.021%
50 Sema
Sema language
Sema, or Sumi, is a Naga language of Nagaland state, India. It is spoken by the Sumi Naga people....

 
166,157 0.020%
51 Kisan
Kisan Tribe
Kisan Tribe in Orissa are found in Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj, Sambalpur and Keonjhar. They are traditional farmers and food gathering people. They speak the Kurukh language along with Kosli, Hindi and English....

 
162,088 0.019%
52 Adi
Adi language
Adi, or Abor, is a small Tibetan–Burman language of India. The various dialects in the box at right, and perhaps a few more, may be distinct languages....

 
158,409 0.019%
53 Rabha
Rabha
Rabha is a little known Scheduled Tribe community of West Bengal and Assam. The language/dialect spoken by the Rabha people is also of the same name. In West Bengal, Rabha people mainly live in Jalpaiguri district and Cooch Behar district. Moreover, almost, 70 per cent of them live in...

 
139,365 0.017%
54 Konyak
Konyak language
Konyak is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Konyak people of Nagaland, north-eastern India.- Phonology :There are three lexically contrastive contour tones in Konyak – rising , falling and level .- Vowels :The vowels , and are lengthened before approximants...

 
137,722 0.016%
55 Malto  108,148 0.013%
56 Thado
Thado language
Thado is a Kukish language of India and Burma....

 
107,992 0.013%
57 Tangkhul
Tangkhul languages
The Tangkhul or Luhupa languages are a small family of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken in Nagaland in northeast India. Conventionally classified as "Naga", they are not clearly related to other Naga languages, and are conservatively classified as an independent branch of Tibeto-Burman, pending...

 
101,841 0.012%

10,000 to 100,000 speakers

1991 census SIL estimate
58 Kolami
Kolami language
Kolami is a tribal Central Dravidian language used in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states of India. It takes route from the central branch of Dravidian Language tree and falls under Kolami–Paraji group of languages....

 
98,281 (0.012%) 115,000 (1997) Northwestern: 50,000; Southeastern: 10,000
59 Angami
Angami language
Angami is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Naga Hills in the northeastern part of India, in Kohima district, Nagaland....

 
97,631 (0.012%) 109,000 (1997)
60 Kodagu  97,011 (0.012%) 122,000
61 Dogri
Dogri language
Dogri is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about five million people in Pakistan and India, chiefly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, but also in northern Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, other parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere. Dogri speakers are called Dogras, and the Dogri-speaking...

 
89,681 (0.011%) (Pakistan+India: 2.1 million)
62 Dimasa
Dimasa language
Dimasa language is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Dimasa people in the state of Assam in North East India.-Phrases:English / Dimasa1)Where are you? = Ning baraha dong?2)I am here. = Ang eraha dong?...

 
88,543 (0.011%) 106,000
63 Lotha
Lotha language
The Lotha language is spoken by approximately 80,000 people in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland. It is centered in the small district of Wokha . This district has many villages such as Merapani, Englan, Pakti and others, where the language is widely spoken and studied...

 
85,802 (0.010%) 80,000
64 Mao  77,810 (0.009%) 81,000
65 Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...

 
69,146 (0.008%) 124,280 (1994)
66 Kabui (Rongmei)  68,925 (0.008%) 59,000 (1997)
67 Phom
Phom language
Phom is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Phom people of Nagaland, north-eastern India.- External links :**...

 
65,350 (0.008%) 34,000 (1997)


The following are SIL Ethnologue estimates:
estimated native speakers
Gaddi  120,000
Pardhi  119,700
Pardhan
Pardhan language
Pardhan is a South-Central Dravidian language spoken in India, mostly in Andhra Pradesh, Adilbad District; Madhya Pradesh, Seoni, Mandla, Chhindawara, Hoshangabad, Betul, Balaghat, Jabalpur districts; Chhattisgarh, Raipur, Bilaspur districts; Maharashtra, Bhandara, Garhchiroli, Nagpur, Wardha, and...

 
116,919
Churahi  110,552
Sauria Paharia
Sauria Paharia language
The Sauria Paharia language is spoken in the Bihar and West Bengal states of India, and some pockets of Bangladesh.Most of the speakers are in India with around 110,000...

 
110,000
Kullu  109,000
Bhattiyali  102,252
Ladakhi
Ladakhi language
The Ladakhi language , now also called Bhoti, and by linguists more generally called Western Archaic Tibetan when the Balti and Burig or Purig or Purki dialects are included, is the predominant language in the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Kashmir state of India, and is also spoken in Baltistan...

 
102,000
Dungra Bhil  100,000
Adiwasi Garasia  100,000
Rajput Garasia  100,000
Noiri
Noiri language
Bhilori is a Bhil language of India, intermediate between Vasavi Gujarati and Bareli Pauri. There are 100,000 of each of the two varieties, Dungra and Noiri, which are highly intelligible with each other....

 
100,000
Jaunsari  97,000
Pnar
Pnar language
Pnar is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken in India and Bangladesh.- Vowels :- Consonants :...

 
84,000
Andh
Andh language
The Andh language, also known as Andhi, is spoken by somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000 Andhs in India.The language is unclassified. Although these numbers sound substantial, it appears Andh may be losing ground with many Andhs speaking Marathi at home....

 
80,000
Mara
Mara language
The Mara language is a language spoken by Mara people living in South Mizoram, India and the adjacent people living in Chin State in Burma, formerly Burma.The Mara language belongs to the Kukish branch of the Tibeto-Burman family of languages...

 
79,000 (India: 47,000 Burma:32,000)
Mawchi  76,000
Bishnupriya  75,000
Duruwa
Duruwa language
Duruwa language , also called, Parji is a Central Dravidian language spoken by the ‘Dhurwa’ tribe, a Scheduled tribe people of India, in the districts of Koraput and Bastar in Chhattisgarh State...

 
75,000
Lodhi
Lodhi language
Lodhi is a Munda language, or perhaps dialect cluster, of India that has been strongly influenced by neighboring Eastern Indic languages....

:
75,000
Bhadrawahi  69,000
Eastern Magar
Magar language
Not to be confused with the Magyar language, known in English as HungarianMagar मगर भाषा Magar bhasa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim in India by Magar people. It is divided into two groups: Eastern and Western, and further dialect divisions give distinct tribal identity...

 
67,691
Balti
Balti language
Balti is a language spoken in Baltistan, in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan and adjoining parts of Ladakh. Baltistan, before 1948, was part of Ladakh province. The Balti language is a dialect of the Ladakhi language, a form of Tibetan. It is mutually intelligible with Ladakhi proper and Burig...

 
67,000
Korwa
Korwa language
Korwa, or Koraku , is a Munda language of India.Korwa is a dialect continuum. The two principal varieties are Korwa and Koraku , spoken by the Korwa and Kodaku people. The Kodaku in Jharkand call their language "Korwa". Both speak Sadri, Kurukh, or Chhattisgarhi as a second language, or in the...

 
66,000
Mahali  66,000
Rana Tharu  64,000
Paniya
Paniya
Paniya is one of the languages of India. It is a language of the scheduled tribes with a majority of its speakers in the state of Kerala. It is also called as Pania, Paniyan and Panyah. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages. According to the 1981 Census, there were 63,827 speakers of...

 
63,827
Rathwi Bareli  63,700
Rawang  60,536
Sansi  60,000
Kachari
Kachari language
Kachari is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by about 59,000 people in Assam, India.Less than 30% of the Kachari people speak the Kachari language as their mother tongue. Most grow up speaking Assamese instead....

 
59,000
Bazigar  58,236
Agariya
Agariya language
The Agariya language is spoken by the Agariya people, especially in Madhya Pradesh in India. It is a Munda language....

 
55,757
Kanjari  55,386
Mal Paharia
Mal Paharia language
Mal Paharia, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 60,000 of 111,000 ethnic Mal Paharia in the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal in India and possibly in Bangladesh. There is a positive attitude amongst speakers of the language, and the language health is considered vigorous. Nonetheless,...

 
51,000
Poumei Naga  51,000
Bodo Parja  50,000
Hmar
Hmar language
The Hmar language belongs to the Kukish branch of the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. The speakers of the language are also known as Hmar.Hmar speakers are scattered over a vast area in Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Chittagong Hill tracts, and NC Hills and Cachar districts of Assam...

 
50,000
Juang
Juang language
The Juang language is a language spoken primarily by the Juang people of eastern India.- Classification :The Juang language belongs to the Munda language family, the whole of which is classified as a branch of the greater Austro-Asiatic language family. Among the Munda languages, Juang is...

 
50,000
Desiya Oriya  50,000
Kinnauri
Kinnauri language
Kinnauri, also known as Kanauri, Kanor, Koonawur, or Kunawar is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Kinnaur district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.-Consonants:...

 
48,778
Moinba  46,000
Paite
Zogam
Zogam is the name for a territory, approximately in size, in Burma, India and Bangladesh...

 
45,000
Tase Naga  45,000
Wancho Naga  45,000
Braj Bhasha  44,000
Buksa  43,000
Sangtam Naga  39,000
Lepcha
Lepcha language
Lepcha language, or Róng language , is a Himalayish language spoken by the Lepcha people in Sikkim and parts of West Bengal, Nepal and Bhutan.-Population:...

 
38,000
Kudmali  37,000
Yimchungru Naga  37,000
Gowli  35,000
Jennu Kurumba  35,000
Nocte Naga  35,000
Khirwar  34,251
Betta Kurumba  32,000
Chang Naga  31,000
Dangaura Tharu  31,000
Gadaba
Gadaba language
Gadaba language refers to a language of the Gadaba people. This may be,*Gutob language , an Austro-Asiatic language*Ollari language , a Dravidian language...

 
31,000 (Pottangi Ollar: 15,000; Bodo: 8,000; Mudhili: 8,000)
Zeme Naga  30,800
Naga Pidgin  30,000
Car Nicobarese  30,000
Kurichiya  29,375
Mzieme Naga  29,000
Chenchu
Chenchu language
Chenchu language is a Dravidian language which belongs to the Telugu branch of its South-Central family. This language is spoken mostly in Andhra Pradesh state in India. This language is spoken by about 28,754 persons of the Chenchu Aboriginal forests hunter-gatherer tribe. It is also called as...

 
28,754
Sikkimese
Sikkimese language
The Sikkimese language, also called Sikkimese Tibetan, Bhutia, Dranjongke , Dranjoke, Denjongka, Denzongpeke, and Denzongke, belongs to the Southern Tibetan language family. It is spoken by the Bhutia nationality in Sikkim...

 
28,600
Limbu
Limbu language
Limbu is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Kashmir and Darjeeling district, West Bengal, India, by the Limbu community. Virtually all Limbus are bilingual in Nepali....

 
28,000
Majhwar
Majhwar language
Majhwar is an unclassified language—possibly a dialect of Asuri—spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim. Total population: 27,958....

 
27,958
Vaiphei  27,791
Ravula  27,413
Western Panjabi  27,386
Deori
Deori language
Deori is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken by the Deori people of Assam. It is one of the official languages of Arunachal Pradesh. Only one of the Deori tribes, the Dibongya, has retained the language, the others having shifted to Assamese, but among the Dibongya it is vigorous.The Deori and their...

 
26,900
Khoibu Naga  25,600
Falam Chin  25,367
Kanikkaran
Kanikkaran language
Kanikkaran is a language spoken by 19,000 people in southern India. They dwell in forests or near to forests in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam in Kerala, and Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu....

 
25,000
Khiamniungan Naga  25,000
Maram Naga  25,000
Tutsa Naga  25,000
Sirmauri  25,000
Arakanese  24,000
Chokri Naga  24,000
Sholaga  24,000
Thangal Naga  23,600
Kamar  23,456
Apatani
Apatani language
Apatani is a small Tibetan–Burman language of India. As most endangered oral languages, Apatani does not yet have a standardized orthography, and there is still some debate among the Apatanis on which script should be used to transcribe it....

 
23,000
Koch  23,000
Khezha Naga  23,000
Tiwa
Tiwa (Lalung)
Tiwa is a tribal group inhabiting the States of Assam and Meghalaya in Northeast India. They are recognized as a Scheduled tribe within the State of Assam...

 
23,000
Southern Rengma Naga  21,000
Shina
Shina language
Shina is a Dardic language spoken by a plurality of people in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan and Dras in Ladakh of Indian-Administered Kashmir. The valleys in which it is spoken include Astore, Chilas, Dareil, Tangeer, Gilgit, Ghizer, and a few parts of Baltistan and Kohistan. It is also spoken in...

 
21,000
Gowlan  20,179
Kumarbhag Paharia  20,179
Savara
Savara language
The Savara language is a South-Central Dravidian language. It is known to be written using the Oriya and Telugu scripts, as well as its own writing system....

 
20,179
Matu Chin  20,000
Liangmai Naga  20,000
Ooty, Nilgiris  20,000
Sakechep  20,000
Seraiki  20,000
Sherpa
Sherpa language
Sherpa is a language spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim mainly by the Sherpa community. About 130,000 speakers live in Nepal , some 20,000 in India , and some 800 in Tibet ....

 
20,000
Toto
Toto language
Toto is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken on the border of India and Bhutan, by the tribal Toto people. The Himalayan Languages Project is working on the first grammatical sketch of Toto.-References:*...

 
20,000
Khowar
Khowar language
For the ethnic group, see under Chitrali people.Khowar , also known as Chitrali, is a Dardic language spoken by 400,000 people in Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan , and in parts of Upper Swat...

 
19,200
Biete  19,000
Hajong
Hajong language
Hajong is an Indo-Aryan language with Tibeto-Burman roots spoken by more than 175,000 ethnic Hajong in the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal in India and the Mymensingh District in Bangladesh. It is written in the Assamese script, and it is being supplanted by the...

 
19,000
Reli  19,000
Manna-Dora  18,964
Hrangkhol  18,665
Bhunjia  18,601
Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

 
18,000
Mukha-Dora  17,456
Maring Naga  17,361
Pangwali  17,000
Asuri
Asuri language
Asuri is a minor Munda language of India.Ethnologue states that Birjia is a dialect of Asuri, but also that there is a related language Birjia; it is not clear if these refer to the same thing....

 
16,596
Dhatki
Dhatki language
Dhatki, also known as Dhati or Thari, is one of the Rajasthani languages of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is most closely related to Marwari.-Speakers:...

 
16,400
Malaryan  16,068
Malavedan  15,241
Gangte
Gangte language
Gangte is a Kukish language of India. There are a few speakers across the border in Burma....

 
15,100
Konda-Dora  15,000
Korra Koraga  15,000
Mudu Koraga  15,000
Kalto (Nahali)
Kalto language
Kalto or Nahali is an Indo-Aryan language of India. Kalto is the ethnonym; "Nahal" or "Nihal" is disparaging. The language is often confused with Nihali, an apparent language isolate spoken by neighboring people with a similar lifestyle....

 
15,000
Dhivehi (Mahl dialect)
Dhivehi language
Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by about 350,000 people in the Maldives where it is the national language. It is also the first language of nearly 10,000 people in the island of Minicoy in the Union territory of Lakshadweep, India where the Mahl dialect of the Maldivian...

 
15,000
Northern Pashto  15,000
Ullatan  14,846
Eastern Tamang
Tamang language
Tamang is a term used to collectively refer to a dialect cluster spoken in parts of Nepal and Sikkim. It comprises Eastern Tamang, Northwestern Tamang, Southwestern Tamang, Eastern Gorkha Tamang, and Western Tamang...

 
14,000
Anal
Anal language
Anal, also known as Namfau, is a Northern Kukish language, part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, spoken by a dwindling number of Anal people in India, Burma, and possibly Bangladesh. It had 14,000 speakers in India according to the 2001 census. UNESCO lists Anal as having 23,000 speakers in...

 
13,853
Northern Rengma Naga  13,000
Pochuri Naga  13,000
Western Muria  12,898
Muthuvan  12,219
Zangskari  12,006
Mirgan  12,000
War
War language
War , War-Jaintia or Amwi is an Austro-Asiatic language spoken by about 16,000 people in Bangladesh and 12,000 people in India....

 
12,000
Kaikadi
Kaikadi language
The Kaikadi language is a Dravidian language related to Tamil, spoken by about 23,000 people of the nomad Kaikadi tribe....

 
11,846
Idu-Mishmi  11,041
Pattani
Pattani language
Pattani, also known as Manchati, Manchad, Patni, Chamba, Chamba Lahuli, Lahuli, Swangla, Changsapa Boli is a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The language is spoken in the Lahul Valley, Pattan, Chamba-Lahul, and lower Mayar valleys...

 
11,000
Changthang  10,089
Degaru  10,089
Eastern Muria  10,089
Far Western Muria  10,089
Andaman Creole Hindi  10,000
Palya Bareli  10,000
Birhor
Birhor language
The Birhor language is a Munda language spoken by the Birhor people in Orissa, West Bengal, and Maharashtra states in India....

 
10,000
Lamkang  10,000
Inpui Naga  10,000
Spiti Bhoti  10,000
Vaagri Booli 10,000

General references


External links

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