Languages
Native
Luganda
17%
English
15%
Secondary languages
Swahili
30%
Runyankole
14%
Chiga
12%
Language Samples
How are you?
How are you? (English, Uganda's official language)
I am fine, thank you very much.
I am fine, thank you very much.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Linguistic History
Uganda is one of Africa's most linguistically diverse nations, with over 40 distinct languages spanning the Bantu family in the south and Nilotic languages (such as Acholi and Langi) in the north. Luganda, spoken by the Baganda people around the shores of Lake Victoria, is the largest single language but claimed by only about 17% of the population as a mother tongue. After independence in 1962, English became the official language of government and education and remains the de facto national lingua franca, while Swahili was added as a second official language in 2005 and is widely used by the military and in trade.
Similar Languages
Kenya
70%
Tanzania
65%
Rwanda
55%
Burundi
50%
Media
Kampala, Uganda's capital, is a multilingual city where English, Luganda, and Swahili are heard side by side.
Photo: Chapelle musa · CC BY-SA 4.0
Did You Know
01
Uganda has more than 40 living languages across four major families: Bantu, Nilotic, Central Sudanic, and Kuliak.
02
Luganda has a rich tonal system and uses a noun-class prefix structure typical of Bantu languages, with 10 active noun classes.
03
The Buganda Kingdom, whose language is Luganda, is one of the oldest and most powerful traditional monarchies in East Africa, predating European colonisation by centuries.