According to the 2005 Census of Colombia, the country has 37 major languages. More than 99.5% of Colombians speak Spanish. English has official status in the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands. In addition to Spanish, there are several other languages spoken in Colombia. Sixty-five of these languages are Amerindian in nature. Amerindian languages are groups of Indigenous languages of the Americas. The 65 Amerindian languages spoken in Colombia can be grouped into 12 language families, including Arawakan, Cariban, Tupian, and Quechuan. The wording of questions asked in the census makes it impossible to verify whether any sections of the population are monolingual in languages other than Spanish.
Curated datasets
Available on Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)
Language data allows humanitarian organizations to better understand the languages people speak and understand, leading to better programming and accountability. These datasets and maps were primarily supported by the H2H Fund, a funding mechanism for H2H Network members. The fund is a rapid funding vehicle for network members responding to humanitarian crises.
Learn more about the project on our blog.
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Maps and resources:
Colombia language map: Interactive (EN)
Interactive map showing the number of people in Colombia who speak each language.
