Ndebele speaking countries
Ndebele is no official language in any country, but is spoken as mother tongue in 3 countries by a minor part of the population.With a share of around 16%, it is most widespread in Zimbabwe. A total of about 3.7 m people worldwide speak Ndebele as their mother tongue.
| Country | Region | Official language | Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zimbabwe | Eastern Africa | no | 16.2 % | 2,408,000 |
| South Africa | Southern Africa | no | 2.1 % | 1,245,000 |
| Botswana | Southern Africa | no | 1.3 % | 31,000 |
Unless otherwise described in the text, this page is about native speakers - not the total number of speakers. How many people understand or speak Ndebele as a subsequently learned language is not the subject of this page. Countries where native speakers make up only a few thousand or even a few hundred people, or countries with a percentage well below 1%, are maybe not listed here.