World Kiswahili Language Day

   The United Nations Office at Nairobi commemorates World Kiswahili Language Day with the participation of the Director-General of UNON, Ambassadors from Kiswahili-speaking countries, and invited guests. The event celebrates Kiswahili as a language of unity, cultural identity, multilingualism and intercultural dialogue. The United Nations Office at Nairobi will commemorate World Kiswahili Language Day on 7 July 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., in Conference Room 1. Observed annually on 7 July, World Kiswahili Language Day honours Kiswahili as one of the most widely spoken African languages and the first African language to be recognized through a dedicated United Nations observance. UNESCO's General Conference proclaimed 7 July as World Kiswahili Language Day during its 41st session in 2021, within the wider UN commitment to multilingualism, cultural diversity and dialogue among civilizations. Kiswahili connects more than 200 million speakers across East, Central and Sout...

Kiswahili is the national language of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and an official language in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It serves as a lingua franca (a common language used for communication between people of different language backgrounds) throughout East and Central Africa. It is also spoken in parts of Somalia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi, the Comoro Islands , and some concentrations of East African diaspora communities in other parts of the world, including England, Canada, Oman, and the Emirates. The number of Kiswahili speakers vary, but it's generally agreed that there are between 150 million and 200 million speakers , including both native and second-language speakers. The language is also taught in academic institutions worldwide and features in international media outlets like the BBC and Voice of America.

Swahili is the most widely spoken language in sub-Saharan Africa and is the common tongue for most East Africans (although it's not necessarily their first language). Swahili is an official language alongside English in Kenya and Tanzania, and primary school children are usually taught in Swahili. It has been an official language in Ugandan since 2022. The official language of the Comoro Islands, Comorian, is a Bantu language related to Swahili. If you're traveling in Rwanda or Burundi, French will probably get you further than Swahili (after English, of course) but a few words here and there will be understood and the effort appreciated. Swahili is also spoken in parts of Malawi , Zambia, the DRC , Somalia, and Mozambique. The 2019 edition of the reference publication Ethnologue estimates that dialects of Swahili are spoken as a first language by roughly 16 million people and by over 200 million people worldwide. This makes Swahili the 10th-most widely spoken language in...