World map: Country, language, writing system

This map shows the distribution of the main writing systems for official languages around the globe.

Hover the mouse cursor on the map to see the main writin system of each individual country. A click opens the glyphs of that script. Or you can hover on the alphabetic scripts and syllabaries on the right to show all the countries where this writing system is in use.

In addition to the main writing systems shown here, a whole range of other scripts are in use around the world, most notably Brahmi/Indic scripts. They have, however, not been included in this synopsis of the writing systems of the world, because they are only actively used in small geographic regions or by limited sets of writers, 

  Albania (Latin)
Country Official language Writing system
Afghanistan Pashtoo, Dari (Persian) Arabic
Albania Albanian Latin
Algeria Arabic, French Arabic, Latin
Andorra Spanish Latin
Angola Portugese Latin
Antigua and Barbuda English Latin
Argentinia Spanish Latin
Armenia Armenian Armenian
Australia English Latin
Austria German Latin
Azerbaijan Azerbaijani Latin
Bahamas English Latin
Bahrein Arabic Arabic
Bangladesh Bengali Bengali
Barbados English Latin
Belarus Belorussian, Russian Cyrillic
Belgium French, Dutch Latin
Belize English Latin
Benin French Latin
Bhutan Dzongkha Tibetan
Bolivia Spanish Latin
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian Latin
Botswana English, Setswana Latin
Brazil Portugese Latin
Brunei Malay Latin
Bulgaria Bulgarian Cyrillic
Burkina Faso French Latin
Burma (Myanmar) Myanmar Myanmar
Burundi French, Kirundi Latin
Cambodia Khmer Khmer
Cameroon French, English Latin
Canada English, French Latin
Cape Verde Portugese Latin
Central African Republic Sango, French Latin
Chad Arabic, French Arabic, Latin
Chile Spanish Latin
China Chinese (Mandarin) Chinese (simplified)
Colombia Spanish Latin
Comoros Comorian, Arabic, French Arabic, Latin
Congo French Latin
Congo, Republic French Latin
Costa Rica Spanish Latin
Cote d Ivoire French Latin
Croatia Croatian Latin
Cuba Spanish Latin
Cyprus Greek, Turkish Greek, Latin
Czech Republic Czech Latin
Denmark Danish, Inuktitut, Faroese Latin
Djibouti Arabic, French Arabic, Latin
Dominica English Latin
Dominican Republic Spanish Latin
East Timor Tetum, Portugese Latin
Ecuador Spanish Latin
Egypt Arabic Arabic
El Salvador Spanish Latin
Equatorial Guinea Spanish, French Latin
Eritrea Arabic, Tigrinya Arabic, Ethiopian
Estonia Estonian Latin
Ethiopia Amharic Ethiopian
Fiji Fiji, English, Hindustani Latin, Devanagari
Finland Finnish Latin
France French Latin
Gabon French Latin
Gambia English Latin
Georgia Georgian Georgian
Germany German Latin
Ghana English Latin
Greece Greek Greek
Grenada English Latin
Guatemala Spanish Latin
Guinea French Latin
Guinea-Bissau Portugese Latin
Guyana English Latin
Haiti Haitian, French Latin
Honduras Spanish Latin
Hungary Hungarian Latin
Iceland Icelandic Latin
India Hindi, English Devanagari, Latin
Indonesia Indonesian Latin
Iran Persian (Farsi) Arabic
Iraq Arabic, Kurdish Arabic
Ireland English, Irish Latin
Israel Hebrew, Arabic Hebrew, Arabic
Italy Italian Latin
Jamaica English Latin
Japan Japanese Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji
Jordan Arabic Arabic
Kazakhstan Kazakh, Russian Cyrillic
Kenya Swahili, English Latin
Kiribati Kiribati, English Latin
Kuwait Arabic Arabic
Kyrgyzstan Kirghiz, Russian Cyrillic
Laos Lao Lao
Latvia Latvian Latin
Lebanon Arabic Arabic
Lesotho Sesotho, English Latin
Liberia English Latin
Libya Arabic Arabic
Liechtenstein German Latin
Lithuania Lithuanian Latin
Luxembourg German, French, Luxembourgish Latin
Macedonia Macedonian Cyrillic
Madagascar Malagasy, French Latin
Malawi Chichewa, English Latin
Malaysia Malay Latin
Maledives Divehi Thaana
Mali French Latin
Malta Maltese, English Latin
Marshall Islands Marshallese, English Latin
Mauritania Arabic, French Arabic, Latin
Mauritius English Latin
Mexico Spanish Latin
Micronesia English, ... Latin
Moldova Romanian Latin
Monaco French Latin
Mongolia Mongolian Cyrillic
Montenegro Montenegrin Cyrillic, Latin
Morocco Arabic, Tamazight Arabic
Mozambique Portugese Latin
Namibia English Latin
Nauru Nauruan, English Latin
Nepal Nepali Devanagari
Netherlands Dutch Latin
New Zealand English, Maori Latin
Nicaragua Spanish Latin
Niger French Latin
Nigeria English, Igbo, Yoruba, Haussa Latin
North Korea Korean Hangul, Hanja
Norway Norse Latin
Oman Arabic Arabic
Pakistan Urdu Arabic
Palau English, Palau Latin
Palestine Hebrew, Arabic Hebrew, Arabic
Panama Spanish Latin
Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, English Latin
Paraguay Guaraní, Spanish Latin
Peru Quechua, Aymaran, Spanish Latin
Philippines Filipino, English Latin
Poland Polish Latin
Portugal Portugese Latin
Qatar Arabic Arabic
Romania Romanian Latin
Russia Russian Cyrillic
Rwanda Kinyarwanda, French, English Latin
St. Kitts and Nevis English Latin
St. Lucia English Latin
St. Vincent English Latin
Samoa Samoan, English Latin
San Marino Italian Latin
Sao Tome and Príncipe Portugese Latin
Saudi Arabia Arabic Arabic
Senegal French Latin
Serbia Serbian Cyrillic
Seychelles English, French, Creole Latin
Sierra Leone English Latin
Singapore Chinese, English, Malay, Tamil Chinese, Latin, Tamil
Slovakia Slovak Latin
Slovenia Slovene Latin
Solomon Islands English Latin
Somalia Arabic, Somali Arabic, Latin
South Africa Afrikaans, English Latin
South Korea Korean Hangul, Hanja
South Sudan English Latin
Spain Spanish, Catalan Latin
Sri Lanka Sinhala, Tamil Sinhala, Tamil
Sudan Arabic, English Arabic, Latin
Suriname Dutch Latin
Swaziland Siswati, English Latin
Sweden Swedish Latin
Switzerland German, French, Italian Latin
Syria Arabic Arabic
Tajikistan Tajik (Persian) Cyrillic
Tanzania Swahili, English Latin
Thailand Thai Thai
Togo French Latin
Tonga Tongan, English Latin
Trinidad and Tobago English Latin
Tunisia Arabic Arabic
Turkey Turkish Latin
Turkmenistan Turkmenian Latin
Tuvalu Polynesian, English Latin
Uganda Swahili, English Latin
Ukraine Ukrainian Cyrillic
United Arab Emirates Arabic Arabic
United Kingdom (UK) English Latin
United States (USA) English Latin
Uruguay Spanish Latin
Uzbekistan Uzbek Latin
Vanuatu Bislama, English, French Latin
Vatican City Latin, Italian Latin
Venezuela Spanish Latin
Vietnam Vietnamese Latin
Yemen Arabic Arabic
Zambia English Latin
Zimbabwe English, Shona, Ndebele Latin
  • Die größte Verbreitung hat das lateinische Alphabet. Es stellt – je nach Zählweise – die Hauptsschrift für ca. 2,5 bis 3,5 Milliarden Menschen weltweit dar. (Die Zählung ist u.a. abhängig davon, ob in Staaten mit mehreren Sprachen und Schriftsystemen alle Einwohner mitgezählt werden. Es muss ferner unterschieden werden zwischen allen Sprechern einer Sprache, die ihrerseits ein bestimmtes Schriftsystem nutzt, und den tatsächlich schriftkundigen Sprechern.)
  • Chinesische Zeichen sind die Schrift-Grundlage für ca. 1,5 Milliarden Menschen vor allem in China, aber auch in Japan, Taiwan oder Singapur.
  • Nahezu 1,5 Milliarden Menschen schreiben in einer Schrift aus dem indischen Schriftkreis – allen voran in Devanagari, der Schrift für etwa 600 Millionen Hindi.    
  • Die kyrillische und die arabische Schrift stellen die Schrift-Grundlage für jeweils knapp einer halbe Milliarde Menschen.
  • Zahlreiche Staaten verfügen außderdem über mehr als eine Amtssprache, die teils in unterschiedlichen Schriftsystemen geschrieben werden, etwa in lateinischer und arabischer Schrift, wie z.B. Algerien, Somalia und Tschad.