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Table 1 Overview of languages included relative to the total population. Level indicates the national (1), provincial (2), or used for wider communication (3). See online supplement 1 for the comprehensive overview. Languages spoken by > 10 million people plus national languages (level 1) are included

From: Patient-Reported OUtcome measures in key African languages to promote Diversity in research and clinical practice (PROUD)—protocol for a systematic review of measurement properties

  

Summary statistics

 

Total population

1,072,128,000

N English speaking

169,531,510

Mean (SD) living languages

57 (85)

Mean (SD) literacy rate

65% (20%)

Languages spoken by >  10 million

Language

N spoken

Level

Ranking (max 94)

Swahili

108,888,800

1

1

French

88,135,710

1

2

Arabic

75,160,000

1

3

Hausa

71,219,000

2

4

Pidgin

62078,000

3

5

Amharic

56,900,000

1

6

Yoruba

42,209,000

2

7

Portuguese

29,311,250

1

8

Igbo

29,000,000

2

9

Zulu

27,300,000

1

10

Sotho

27,230,000

1

11

Xhosa

19,150,000

1

12

Oromo

19,100,000

2

13

Afrikaans

17,287,000

1

14

Fulfulde

16,169,000

3

15

Somali

14,635,600

1

16

Setswana

13,630,000

1

17

Wolof

12,522,000

3

18

Jula

12,504,000

3

19

Kinyarwanda

11,600,000

1

20

Rundi

10,420,000

1

21

Ibibio

10,380,000

3

22

+ National languages

Malagasy

7,520,000

1

28

Tsonga

5,680,000

1

36

Sango

5,100,000

1

38

Swati

4,800,000

1

40

Ndebele

4,100,000

1

42

Venda

2,910,000

1

48

Creole

2,151,200

1

52

Spanish

787,000

1

67

Kabuverdianu

492,000

1

76