African Countries Where an Indigenous Language is an Official Language ๐๐ฃ๏ธ
๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa โ 9 indigenous official languages (Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Venda, Tsonga, Swati, Ndebele, Pedi)
๐น๐ฟ Tanzania โ Swahili
๐ฐ๐ช Kenya โ Swahili
๐ท๐ผ Rwanda โ Kinyarwanda
๐ง๐ฎ Burundi โ Kirundi
๐ธ๐ด Somalia โ Somali
๐ฉ๐ฏ Djibouti โ Somali & Afar
๐ช๐น Ethiopia โ Amharic (federal official); Oromo, Tigrinya & others at regional level
๐ช๐ท Eritrea โ Tigrinya
๐ฒ๐ฌ Madagascar โ Malagasy
๐ฒ๐ผ Malawi โ Chichewa
๐ฟ๐ผ Zimbabwe โ Shona & Ndebele among 16 official languages
๐ง๐ผ Botswana โ Setswana
๐ธ๐ฟ Eswatini โ Swati
๐ฑ๐ธ Lesotho โ Sesotho
๐ฒ๐ท Mauritania โ Hassaniya Arabic & Wolof, Soninke, Pular (national/co-official)
๐จ๐ฉ DRC โ Swahili, Lingala, Kikongo & Tshiluba
๐จ๐ซ CAR โ Sango
๐ฒ๐ฑ Mali ๐ โ 13 indigenous languages now official (Bambara, Dogon, Fula, Songhay, Tamasheq etc.) โ French demoted to working language (2023)
๐ง๐ซ Burkina Faso ๐ โ Moorรฉ, Dyula & Fula now official โ French demoted to working language (January 2024)
๐ฒ๐ฆ Morocco โ Tamazight/Berber (co-official with Arabic since 2011)
๐ฉ๐ฟ Algeria โ Tamazight (co-official with Arabic since 2016)
๐ Sources: Country constitutions; Wikipedia; Africanews; Language Magazine