How many languages are spoken in the world today?
The catalogue Ethnologue has been counting the world's living languages since the 1950s. How many does its latest edition list?
Reveal the answer
About 7,170 in the 2026 count. The total has climbed from 5,445 in 1984, partly because varieties once treated as dialects are now recognised as languages in their own right.
— SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World — 2026 count