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Hausa

Other Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan Languages

Hausa is a Chadic language spoken by over 94.5 million people in West Africa, primarily by the Hausa people in Niger, where it is the sole official language having replaced French in 2025, and in Nigeria.

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
hau 2
Speaker Count
94,000,000 2
Ethnologue total figure, 2021-2024.
Status
Living 2
Wikipedia article on Hausa: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27.
Attested From (Year)
from 1601 3
Region
West Africa 2
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Official Language 2
Connections

In Family

Afro-Asiatic, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: Hausa Language

Written In

Arabic Script, Scripts
Latin Script, Scripts

Modern Hausa is predominantly written in the Latin-based Boko orthography; Ajami (Arabic-based) remains in use for religious and some traditional writing.

In the Other Atlases

Cases Where Used

Hausa

Also in Society and Culture Atlas: used in this subject.

Source Wikipedia: HausaLead sentence 2tier 3
Quote, Lead sentence 2
They speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family.

Located In

West Africa

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is located.

Found In

Africa

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikipedia: Hausa LanguageLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Hausa (; in Hausa: Harshen/Halshen Hausa /hawˈsa/; Ajami: هَرْشَن هَوْسَا‎) is a Chadic language spoken by over 94.5 million people in West Africa, primarily by the Hausa people in Niger (where it is the sole official language, having replaced French in 2025) and Nigeria.
West Africa

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikipedia: Hausa LanguageLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia articletier 2
Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article
Hausa (; in Hausa: Harshen/Halshen Hausa /hawˈsa/; Ajami: هَرْشَن هَوْسَا‎) is a Chadic language spoken by over 94.5 million people in West Africa, primarily by the Hausa people in Niger (where it is the sole official language, having replaced French in 2025) and Nigeria.
Sources
1. Glottolog: Hausa (Glottolog languoid haus1257)
GlottologEndangerment, AES status
Quote, Endangerment, AES status
AES status: not endangered
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Hausa Language
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Hausa ... is a Chadic language spoken by over 94.5 million people in West Africa, primarily by the Hausa people in Niger (where it is the sole official language, having replaced French in 2025) and Nigeria.
  • Infobox, ISO 639-3
    hau
  • Infobox, Speakers (Total)
    94 million (2021-2024)
  • Infobox, Region
    West Africa
  • Lead section
    Hausa (; in Hausa: Harshen/Halshen Hausa /hawˈsa/; Ajami: هَرْشَن هَوْسَا‎) is a Chadic language spoken by over 94.5 million people in West Africa, primarily by the Hausa people in Niger (where it is the sole official language, having replaced French in 2025) and Nigeria.
  • In Family: Afro-Asiatic, Infobox, Language family
    Afro-Asiatic - Chadic - West - Hausa-Gwandara (A.1) - Hausa
View the Source
3. Omniglot: Hausa language, alphabet and pronunciation
OmniglotLanguage at a glance
Quote, Language at a glance
First written : 17th century AD
View the Source
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