Afrikaans

How many people are native Afrikaans speakers?

Slightly more than 7 million people are estimated to be native speakers of Afrikaans. It is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, spoken by about 14% of the population and is also spoken by 10% of Namibians, dating back to the administration of Namibia by South Africa after the first world war.

How many people speak Afrikaans in the world?

General estimates of Afrikaans speakers range between 15 and 23 million native and non-native speakers.

Origins of Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a descendent language of Dutch that evolved because of Dutch colonization since the 17th century. Its roots therefore lie in West Germanic languages.