Oromo

Name: Oromo: census figures, languages and lineage
Creator: Genetik
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Оромо

language area per Glottologcensus counts

25,489,024

Ethiopia, 2007 (ethnicity / nationality)

Afro-Asiatic

language family (Glottolog)

In brief

Main language: West Central Oromo. Glottolog classifies it in the Afro-Asiatic family.

Official figures from other countries

Figures from different countries do not add up: censuses define belonging differently (self-identification, citizenship, mother tongue, ancestry). The type is shown on each figure.

Ethiopia · 2007

25,489,024

Category as printed: «Oromo»ethnicity / nationality

[1] Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (via IRB Canada, 13 Oct 2021)

Languages and their lineage

West Central Oromo

Afro-Asiaticafro1255
Cushiticcush1243
East Cushiticeast2699
Lowland East Cushiticlowl1267
Southern Lowland East Cushiticsout3055
Mainstream Lowland East Cushiticmain1283
Oromoidnucl1701
Nuclear Oromonucl1736
West Central Oromowest2721

People-to-language links: Wikidata (properties P103 and P2936), checked against ISO 639-3 codes. Language classification: Glottolog 5.3.

Peoples of the same language family

Moroccans Amhara Saudis Jordanians Libyans Omanis Palestinians Emiratis Bahrainis Qataris Jewish people Arabs Assyrians Egyptians Algerians Mauritanians Iraqis Lebanese Yemenis Hausa

Sources

Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (via IRB Canada, 13 Oct 2021). Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census: Population Size by Age and Sex (Ethiopia, Dec. 2008, pp. 84-85), as cited in Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada response ETH200769.FE. https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2063735.html
Hammarström H., Forkel R., Haspelmath M., Bank S. (2026). Glottolog 5.3. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. glottolog.org (CC BY 4.0)