Editing Languages of Africa (section)

===Demographics===
{{Further|Demographics of Africa}}
Of the 1 billion Africans (in 2009), about 17 percent speak an [[Varieties of Arabic|Arabic dialect]].{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} About 10 percent speak [[Swahili language|Swahili]],{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} the lingua franca of Southeast Africa; about 5 percent speak a [[Berber languages|Berber]] dialect;{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} and about 5 percent speak [[Hausa language|Hausa]], which serves as a lingua franca in much of the Sahel. Other large West African languages are [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], [[Igbo language|Igbo]], [[Akan language|Akan]] and [[Fula language|Fula]]. Major Horn of Africa languages are [[Somali language|Somali]], [[Amharic language|Amharic]] and [[Oromo language|Oromo]]. [[Lingala]] is important in Central Africa. Important South African languages are [[Sotho language|Sotho]], [[Tswana language|Tswana]], [[Northern Sotho language|Pedi]], [[Venda language|Venda]], [[Tsonga language|Tsonga]], [[Swazi language|Swazi]], [[Southern Ndebele language|Southern Ndebele]], [[Zulu language|Zulu]], [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] and [[Afrikaans]].<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |title=Tongues under threat |date=22 January 2011 |page=58}}</ref>

French, English, and Portuguese are important languages in Africa due to colonialism. About 320 million,<ref>[https://www.odsef.fss.ulaval.ca/sites/odsef.fss.ulaval.ca/files/uploads/Pr%C3%A9sentation_FRANCOSCOPE_2023-03-15_Finale.pdf 327 millions de francophones dans le monde en 2023] odsef.fss.ulaval.ca (in French)</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Verdeau | first=Paul | title=En 2023, 327 millions de personnes parlent français dans le monde, dont près de la moitié en Afrique | website=RTBF | date=20 March 2023 | url=https://www.rtbf.be/article/en-2023-429-millions-de-personnes-parlent-francais-dans-le-monde-dont-pres-de-la-moitie-en-afrique-11169856 | language=fr | access-date=27 November 2023}}</ref> 240 million and 35 million Africans, respectively, speak them as either native or secondary languages. Portuguese has become the national language of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, and Portuguese is the official language of Mozambique.