Umbundu

Umbundu
South Mbundu
Úmbúndú
Native toAngola
EthnicityOvimbundu
Native speakers
7,000,000 (2018)[1]
Official status
Official language in
 Angola ("National language")
Language codes
ISO 639-2umb
ISO 639-3umb
Glottologumbu1257
R.11[2]
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Southern Mbundu
PersonOcimbundu
PeopleOvimbundu
LanguageUmbundu
CountryOvimbunduland

Umbundu, or South Mbundu (autonym úmbúndú), one of many Bantu languages, is the most widely-spoken autochthonous language of Angola. Its speakers are known as Ovimbundu and are an ethnic group constituting a third of Angola's population. Their homeland is the Central Highlands of Angola and the coastal region west of these highlands, including the cities of Benguela and Lobito. Because of recent internal migration, there are now also large communities in the capital Luanda and its surrounding province, as well as in Lubango.

  1. ^ Umbundu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online