- Who
- Papua New Guinea
- What
- 840 total number
- Where
- Papua New Guinea ()
- When
- 2019
Papua New Guinea, a nation state in the Pacific Ocean north of Australia, plays host to speakers of more languages than any other country – a total of 840 living languages, according to the 22nd edition of Ethnologue: Languages of the World, published in 2019. These include Tok Pisin, Motu and English.
Ethnologue currently documents 7,111 languages. Most of Papua New Guinea’s c. 7.6 million population live in fragmented rural areas with their own regional dialects; indeed, most of the country’s languages are spoken by fewer than 1,000 people. Of the country's 840 living languages, 839 are indigenous and one (Chinese) is non-indigenous.
