Editing Quechuan languages (section)

===Number of speakers===
It is difficult to measure the number of Quechua speakers.<ref name=":2" /> The number of speakers given varies widely according to the sources. The total in ''[[Ethnologue]]'' 16 is 10 million, primarily based on figures published 1987–2002, but with a few dating from the 1960s. The figure for Imbabura Highland Quechua in ''Ethnologue'', for example, is 300,000, an estimate from 1977.

The missionary organization FEDEPI, on the other hand, estimated one million Imbabura dialect speakers (published 2006). Census figures are also problematic, due to under-reporting. The 2001 Ecuador census reports only 500,000 Quechua speakers, compared to the estimate in most linguistic sources of more than 2 million. The censuses of Peru (2007) and Bolivia (2001) are thought to be more reliable.

*Argentina: 900,000 (1971)
*Bolivia: 2,100,000 (2001 census); 2,800,000 South Bolivian (1987)
*Chile: few, if any; 8,200 in ethnic group (2002 census)
*Colombia: 4,402 to 16,000<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ling.fi/DICCIONARIO.htm| title = Alain Fabre, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pubelos indígenas sudamericanos| access-date = 2016-09-23| archive-date = 2020-09-25| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200925212732/http://www.ling.fi/DICCIONARIO.htm| url-status = live}}</ref>
*Ecuador: 2,300,000 (Adelaar 1991)
*Peru: 3,800,000 (2017 census<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://censos2017.inei.gob.pe/redatam/|title=Inei – Redatam Censos 2017|access-date=2018-09-17|archive-date=2018-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913021542/http://censos2017.inei.gob.pe/redatam/|url-status=dead}}</ref>); 3,500,000 to 4,400,000 (Adelaar 2000)

Additionally, there is an unknown number of speakers in emigrant communities.<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Claudio Torrens
| title = Some NY immigrants cite lack of Spanish as barrier
| newspaper = San Diego Union-Tribune
| date = 2011-05-28
| url = https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-some-ny-immigrants-cite-lack-of-spanish-as-barrier-2011may28-story.html
| access-date = 2022-08-20
| archive-date = 2015-02-01
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150201040607/http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/may/28/some-ny-immigrants-cite-lack-of-spanish-as-barrier/
| url-status = live
}}</ref>