KBC 14: Which country is home to the most number of living languages in the world with more than eight hundred of them?
Options:
India
Papua New Guinea
Indonesia
Sierra Leone
Answer: Papua New Guinea
According to Ethnologue, a catalogue of the world’s known languages, Papua New Guinea is the most multilingual country, with over 839 living languages.
The topography of Papua New Guinea explains much of the country’s linguistic diversity: deep valleys and difficult terrain have led to the separation of tribes and clans, and thus several different tongues and dialects have evolved.
Because the country has a relatively small population of 7 million people, it is highly likely that two people chosen at random will speak different mother tongues.
With 707 languages, Indonesia is the next most multilingual country, while North Korea is the least multilingual.
Smaller countries and islands, unsurprisingly, rank lower: the British Indian Ocean Territory, for example, has only one language spoken within its borders.
