Translators without Borders

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Donate Now
  • Home
  • About us
    • Careers
    • Testimonials
  • Our Work
    • Crisis Response
      • European refugee response
      • Global COVID-19 response
      • Mozambique
      • Northeast Nigeria
      • Rohingya refugee response
      • The Democratic Republic of Congo
    • Gamayun Language Initiative
    • Language Data Initiative
    • Kató Translation Platform
    • TWB Chatbots
    • TWB Glossaries
    • Resources
  • Support us
    • Donate to Translators without Borders
    • Become a Sponsor
    • Become a Fundraiser
    • Our Sponsors
  • Volunteer
    • Apply as a translator
    • Our Volunteers
    • Community Recognition Program
  • Partner with Us
    • TWB Partner Program
    • Apply to be a Partner
  • News & Blog
    • Blog
    • Press

Language data for Ecuador

The 2010 census of Ecuador records 13 languages. Around 97% of Ecuadorians speak Spanish. Today, Spanish spoken in Ecuador has 3 distinct regional variations: Amazonic, Andean, and Equatorial Coastal. The most widely spoken variants are Andean Spanish, spoken in the highlands, and Equatorial Coastal Spanish, spoken from the northern border with Colombia to the southern border with Peru. These regions are the most heavily populated in the country.

Quichua, a local variant of Quechua, is the second most commonly spoken language (5%), followed by Shuar (1%); these are also used for communication between speakers of different languages. The largest concentration of Quichua speakers can be found in Chimborazo Province. Quichua is also taught as part of the national curriculum.

Shuar belongs to the Jivaroan language family and is spoken by around 35,000 people. Shuar speakers are concentrated in Morona Santiago and Pastaza Provinces, in southeastern Ecuador. Eleven other Indigenous languages are also spoken. These are the first languages of some 28,000 Ecuadorians, largely in northern Ecuador.

In urban areas of the country, especially the coastal region, most people are monolingual and only speak Spanish. Indigenous languages are spoken at higher rates in rural areas.

The literacy rate in Ecuador in 2010 was 92%, and slightly lower for women (91.4%) than men (92.6%).

Explore the data by canton here.

These maps and datasets are published with funding from the World Food Programme.

Curated datasets
Available on Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)

Other sources of language data
Wikipedia
Glottolog

Tools
Why we need to collect data on the languages of crisis-affected people (PDF)

Rapid Guide to Localizing and Translating Survey Tools (EN, FR, PT)

Questions to use to collect data for your own language map

For more information, please contact [email protected]

Maps and resources:


Languages of Ecuador other than Spanish: Static (EN)

Static map highlighting the most common languages spoken in Ecuador besides Spanish. Data is from the 2010 census.


Languages of Ecuador other than Spanish: Static (ES)

Static map highlighting the most common languages spoken in Ecuador besides Spanish. Data is from the 2010 census.


Languages of Ecuador: Interactive (EN)

Interactive map showing the number of speakers and geographic spread of different languages in Ecuador. Data is from the 2010 census.

News

TWB welcomes Semantix and TransPerfect in joint Sapphire sponsorship

April 5, 2022

Lionbridge celebrates 25th anniversary with first Sapphire sponsorship for TWB

February 23, 2022

TWB welcomes TRSB as new Gold sponsor

November 2, 2021

Subscribe to the TWB newsletter

Contact Us

[email protected]

How to contact us

Report misconduct

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe to our newsletter

Donate

More

Annual report

Financials

Careers

Sitemap

Copyright © 2022 Translators without Borders

image001  Privacy Policy

This site uses cookies. Consult our Cookie Policy.