How many people in the world speak Urdu?

31/01/2024

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Anonymous

Answered Oct 5, 2018

Urdu is the mother tongue or the first language of approximately 9% of the Pakistani population, 7% of the Indian population. This means 18 million Pakistanis and 95 million Indians speak Urdu as their first language. Among the Indian Urdu speakers almost all belong to the minority Muslim community that comprises over 15% of the Indian population.

However the crucial thing to note is that, like English and French, the majority of people who speak and communicate in Urdu daily are Non-native speakers. Urdu serves as a sort of pan-Islamic language in Pakistan and India, which means the vast majority of Muslims in South Asia (except Bangladesh) are fluent in Urdu.

Over 95% of Pakistanis, numbering 190 million, can speak Urdu. Among Indian Muslims at least 80% are native plus Non-native Urdu speakers which translates to 170 million who speak the language.

Interestingly Urdu is the dominant language among Muslims in South India as well, far eclipsing the number of local Muslims who speak regional Dravidian (southern) languages. More than half of South India’s Muslims speak Urdu and Urdu is a co-official language in Telangana.

The Muslim minority of Nepal also speak Urdu and so does the small Bihari community in Bangladesh.

Apart from Indian Muslims a significant number of Sikhs and some North Indian Hindus can also speak and understand Urdu. The common language of the Northern and Central Indian street is Khariboli or Hindustani, a mix of Hindi and Urdu so Urdu is no stranger to Non-muslims in these regions. Urdu being a language of beauty and grandeur is also popular in Bollywood and many famous ‘Hindi’ songs actually sound closer to Urdu.

Altogether Urdu is estimated to 120 million native speakers and 500-600 million second language speakers, giving a grand total of close to 700 million people who speak Urdu as of 2018.