Democratic Republic of the Congo Language of Instruction Country Profile
LINGUISTIC CONTEXT
According to SIL International's Ethnologue: Languages of the World, there are 212 living languages in the
DRC. Of these, 207 are indigenous languages and five are non-indigenous. Further, nine are institutional
languages, 30 are developing, and 135 are vigorous, while 31 are in trouble and seven are dying (Eberhard,
Simons & Fennig, 2020). For more information on how languages are categorized on the Expanded Graded
Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), please see Table 1.
The official language of the DRC is French, with 31.9 million speakers of a total population of 84 million
(Eberhard et al., 2020). French is a second language (L2) for all speakers in the DRC. The Constitution also
names four national languages: Lingala, Kiswahili (Congolese Swahili), Chiluba (Luba-Kasai), and Kikongo
(Kituba). Lingala is the statutory provincial language in the northwestern regions and the first language (LI)
of most Kinshasa residents, the capital city, with 2.04 million speakers. Luba-Kasai is the statutory provincial
language in the Kasai region, with 7 million speakers, and Congolese Swahili is the statutory provincial
language in the eastern regions, with 11.1 million speakers. Kituba is the statutory provincial language in the
Bas-Congo and Bandundu regions, with 5 million speakers (Eberhard et al., 2020). For more information on
the geographic dispersion of indigenous languages, please see Figure 2a and 2b.
Table I.Assessing Language Vitality: EGIDS Scale
Institutional
Developing
Vigorous
In Trouble
Dying
Extinct
The language is used by institutions beyond the home and community
The language is in vigorous use and with literature in a standardized form
The language is not standardized but it is used among all generations
Intergenerational transmission is breaking down
Only fluent users, if any, are middle-aged or older
The language is not used
Source: SIL International, n.d. For more information, please see: www.ethnologue.com/about/language-info
Most widely-spoken languages in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo
French
31.9 million speakers
Congolese Swahili
11.1 million speakers
Luba-Kasai
7 million speakers
Kituba
5 million speakers
Lingala
2.04 million speakers.
Source: Eberhard et al., 2020
Figure 1. Map of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
CAMEROON
GABON
REPUBLIC
OF THE
CONGO
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Kisangani
SOUTH SUDAN
UGANDA
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF
THE CONGO
RWANDA
BURUNDI
ANGOLA
DISPUTE
Kinshasa
TANZANIA
Kananga.
• Mbuji-Mayi
ANGOLA
| Language names differ slightly between SIL International and the official government names. The names in parentheses are those used by
SIL International, and will be used throughout this section since the data being referenced was collected by SIL International.
Atlantic
Ocean
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO | LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION COUNTRY PROFILE
100 KM
Lubumbashi
ZAMBIA
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