Languages of Afghanistan - Overview

Overview

Pashto is the native tongue of the Pashtuns, the single largest ethno-linguistic group and founders of modern-day Afghanistan. Dari (Persian) is the native tongue of various Afghan ethnic groups including the Tajiks, Afghanistan's second largest ethnic group, urbanized Hazaras, and Aimak. Due to Afghanistan's multi-ethnic character, language variety as well as bilingualism and multilingualism are a common phenomenon.

The exact figures about the size and composition of the various ethnolinguistic groups are unavailable since no systematic census has been held in Afghanistan in decades. Estimates suggest the following primary languages:

According to a 2006 opinion poll survey involving 6,226 randomly-selected Afghan citizens by the Asia Foundation, Dari was the first language of 49% of the polled people, while an additional 37% spoke it as a second language. 42% were able to read Dari. Pashto was the first language of 40%, with an additional 28% stating the ability to speak Pashto as a second language. 33% were able to read Pashto. Uzbek was the first language of 9% and a second language for 6%. Turkmen was the first language of 2% and a second language for 3%. English could also be spoken by 8% and Urdu by 7%. The number of Pashto speakers is probably higher because the Survey excluded certain Pashto-speaking regions for security reasons.

According to Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World published in 2009, Pashto is the native language of 35% of the Afghan population.