The distinctive charm of South Africa comes from its history and also by moments of great change and strides of progress brought about by a people united in a diversity of religious beliefs, cultures and languages.
South Africa’s Constitution recognises 11 official languages, to which it guarantees equal status.
| SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGES 2019 | ||
| Language | Number of speakers* | % of total |
| Afrikaans | 6 855 082 | 13.5% |
| English | 4 892 623 | 9.6% |
| isiNdebele | 1 090 223 | 2.1% |
| isiXhosa | 8 154 258 | 16% |
| isiZulu | 11 587 374 | 22.7% |
| Sepedi | 4 618 576 | 9.1% |
| Sesotho | 3 849 563 | 7.6% |
| Setswana | 4 067 248 | 8% |
| Sign language | 234 655 | 0.5% |
| SiSwati | 1 297 046 | 2.5% |
| Tshivenda | 1 209 388 | 2.4% |
| Xitsonga | 2 277 148 | 4.5% |
| Other | 828 258 | 1.6% |
| TOTAL | 50 961 443** | 100% |
