Rank
|
Language
|
City
|
Speakers
|
1
|
Arabic
|
Cairo
|
150,000,000
|
2
|
French
|
Kinshasa
|
120,000,000
|
3
|
Hausa
|
Lagos
|
34,000,000
|
4
|
Yoruba
|
Lagos
|
28,000,000
|
5
|
Igbo
|
Lagos
|
27,000,000
|
6
|
Oromo
|
Addis Ababa
|
26,000,000
|
7
|
Fula
|
Conakry
|
25,000,000
|
8
|
Amharic
|
Addis Ababa
|
21,800,000
|
9
|
Malagasy
|
Antananarivo
|
18,000,000
|
10
|
Somali
|
Mogadishu
|
16,600,000
|
11
|
Berber
|
Fes
|
16,000,000
|
12
|
Swahili
|
Nairobi
|
15,000,000
|
13
|
Portuguese
|
Luanda
|
13,700,000
|
14
|
Akan
|
Accra
|
11,000,000
|
15
|
Zulu
|
Johannesburg
|
10,400,000
|
16
|
Kinyarwanda
|
Kigali
|
9,800,000
|
17
|
Chewa
|
Lusaka
|
9,700,000
|
18
|
Kirundi
|
Bujumbura
|
8,800,000
|
19
|
Mossi
|
Ouagadougou
|
7,600,000
|
Xhosa
|
Cape Town
|
21
|
Afrikaans
|
Cape Town
|
7,200,000
|
Shona
|
Harare
|
|
Rank
|
Language
|
City
|
Speakers
|
23
|
Tigrinya
|
Asmara
|
7,000,000
|
24
|
Gikuyu
|
Nyeri
|
6,600,000
|
25
|
English
|
Johannesburg
|
6,500,000
|
26
|
Luba-Kasai
|
Kananga
|
6,300,000
|
27
|
Umbundu
|
Benguela
|
6,000,000
|
28
|
Tswana
|
Pretoria
|
5,800,000
|
29
|
Kongo
|
Kinshasa
|
5,600,000
|
Sotho
|
Maseru
|
31
|
Lingala
|
Kinshasa
|
5,500,000
|
32
|
Wolof
|
Dakar
|
5,454,000
|
33
|
Tsonga
|
Maputo
|
5,000,000
|
34
|
Northern Sotho
|
Polokwane
|
4,600,000
|
35
|
Luo
|
Nairobi
|
4,200,000
|
36
|
Luganda
|
Kampala
|
4,100,000
|
37
|
Venda
|
Polokwane
|
1,300,000
|
38
|
Spanish
|
Malabo
|
1,100,000
|
Mauritian Creole
|
Port Louis
|
Southern Ndebele
|
Bulawayo
|
41
|
Dangme
|
Accra
|
1,020,000
|
|