Quechua speaking countries
Quechua is an official language in Bolivia and Peru and is spoken in 5 other countries as monther tongue by a part of the population. The Quechua language (native name: Runa Simi, Kichwa) has its roots in the Quechuan language family.With 4.38 million native speakers, Quechua has the highest prevalence in Peru. As a percentage of the total population, the largest share of around 23 percent is in Bolivia. A total of about 8.4 million people worldwide speak Quechua as their mother tongue.
| Country | Region | Official language | Distribution | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peru | South America | yes | 13.0 % | 4,383,000 |
| Bolivia | South America | yes | 22.6 % | 2,730,000 |
| Ecuador | South America | no | 4.1 % | 730,000 |
| Brazil | South America | no | 0.1 % | 214,000 |
| Argentina | South America | no | 0.4 % | 183,000 |
| Chile | South America | no | 0.8 % | 156,000 |
| Colombia | South America | no | 0.1 % | 52,000 |
Unless otherwise described in the text, this page is about native speakers — not the total number of speakers. How many people understand or speak Quechua 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 unlikely to be listed here.