Languages of Nepal

Official languages

Nepali in Devanagari script is the official working language in federal level. The constitution has provisioned provinces to choose one or more than one official language(s) besides Nepali. According to the Language Commission of Nepal Maithili and Limbu are recommended to have official status in Koshi Province; Maithili, Bhojpuri and Bajjika in Madhesh Province; Tamang and Nepal Bhasa (Newar) in Bagmati Province; Magar and Gurung in Gandaki Province; Tharu and Awadhi in Lumbini Province; Nepali (Khas Bhasa)'s Karnali dialect and Magar in Karnali Province; Dotyali and Tharu in Sudurpashchim Province.

Constitutional status

Part 1 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 (2072 B.S.) contains these provisions about the languages of Nepal:

• Article 6: All languages spoken as the mother tongue in Nepal are the languages of the nation.
• Article 7(1): The Nepali language in the Devanagari script shall be the official language of Nepal.
• Article 7(2): A Province may, by a provincial law, determine one or more than one languages of the nation spoken by a majority of people within the Province as its official language or languages, in addition to the Nepali language.

Classification

Nepal's languages are mostly either Indo-European or Sino-Tibetan, while only a very few of them are Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian.

Out of 124 languages reported in 2021 census, the 45 Indo-European languages, which are of the Indo-Aryan (Indic) sub-family (excluding English), constitute the largest group in terms of the numeric strength of their speakers, nearly 83.1% of the population. Nepali, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Awadhi, the Tharu languages and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) fall in this group.

The Sino-Tibetan family of Nepal's languages forms a part of its Tibeto-Burman group. Though spoken by relatively fewer people than the Indo-European family (16.6% of population), it includes a greater number of languages, about 73 languages. Languages belonging to this group include Tamang, Nepal Bhasa (Newar), Magar and Limbu.

The small declining number of Dravidian languages are represented by Kurux, and the Munda languages of the Austroasiatic family by Santali and Mundari.

The indigenous languages of Nepal that predated the influx of Indic, Tibeto-Burman, and other families barely survive in the Kusunda language, which is nearly extinct today.

Nepal also has at several indigenous village sign languages: Jhankot Sign Language, Jumla Sign Language, and Ghandruk Sign Language, in addition to the Nepali Sign Language designed for national use.

Languages in Nepal as of 2021

There were 124 mother tongues according to the "National Report on caste/ethnicity, language & religion", National Population and Housing Census 2021 in Nepal.

Nepali accounted as a mother tongue for 44.86% while also being a second additional language for 46.2% of the total population.

Mother tongues

There were 124 mother tongues according to the "National Report on caste/ethnicity, language & religion", National Population and Housing Census 2021 in Nepal.111 were previously reported in the earlier census 2011 and 13 were newly found in the census 2021. Some of the foreign languages reported in 2011 census have been included in "Other Language" category due very few number of speakers.

The newly added mother tongues were Bhote, Lowa, Chum/Nubri, Baragunwa, Nar-Phu, Ranatharu, Karmarong, Mugali, Tichhurong Poike, Sadri, Done, Munda/Mudiyari and Kewarat.

Population by mother tongue and sex, NPHC 2021

Second language

There were 25 languages that were being used as second language by more than 10 thousand population on each in the "National Report on caste/ethnicity, language & religion", National Population and Housing Census 2021 in Nepal, whereas there were only 18 such languages reported as second language in the earlier census 2011.

Population by second language, NPHC 2021

Writing systems

Most of the languages are found exclusively in oral form. According to the Language Commission, only fifteen scripts are currently in use in Nepal.Nepali is written in Devanagari script, Nepalbhasa (Newar) in Newar script, Ranjana script, Bhujimol script, Maithili in Tirhuta script, and Bhojpuri in Kaithi script. Similarly, Limbu is written in Sirijunga script, Tamang in Tamyig script, Sherpa in Tibetan script, Magar in Akkha script, Gurung in Khema script, Dhimal in Dham script, Sunwar in Kõits script, Lepcha in Rong script and Santhali in Ol Chiki script.