The following are sign languages reported to be used by at least 10,000 people. Additional languages, such as Chinese Sign Language, are likely to have more signers, but no data is available. Estimates for sign language use are very crude, and definitions of what counts as proficiency are varied. For most sign languages, there are no concrete estimates. For instance, it has been reported there are a million signers in Ethiopia, but there are only a fifth that number of deaf people, less than half of whom are fluent in sign, and in addition it is unknown how many different sign languages they use.
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According to many highly educated members of the ASL Deaf community, the number of fluent ASL native signers is closer to the tens of millions. Therefore, the statistics listed below, while taken from varying published sources, should be carefully vetted before being disseminated or cited elsewhere.
More information Language, Family or origin ...
| Language |
Family or origin |
Where spoken natively by significant population |
Legal recognition |
Ethnologue estimate |
|---|
| Indo-Pakistani Sign Language | Related to Nepali Sign Language and possibly others in south Asia | India, Pakistan and Bangladesh |
| 6,300,000 (2019) |
| Chinese Sign Language |
Chinese Sign Language family |
China |
Legally recognized by China |
4,000,000 (2021) |
| Indonesian Sign Language | French Sign Language family (based on) | Indonesia |
| 810,000 (2021)[1] |
| Russian Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania |
| 715,000 (2014)[2] |
| Brazilian Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Brazil |
Legally recognized in Brazil, on April 24, 2002 under Law 10.436[3] | 600,000 (2019) |
| Ethiopian sign languages |
Ethiopian sign language family |
Ethiopia |
|
560,000 (2021) |
| Spanish Sign Language | French Sign Language family or language isolate (disputed) | Spain except Catalonia and Valencia |
Officially recognized by Spanish Government | 523,000 (2017) |
| Egyptian Sign Language | Arab sign-language family | Egypt |
| 474,000 (2014)[4] |
| American Sign Language | Old French Sign Language and Martha's Vineyard Sign Language | United States and Anglophone Canada |
|
459,850[5] |
| Persian Sign Language | Language isolate | Iran |
| 325,000 (2019)[6] |
| Papua New Guinean Sign Language |
Auslan creole (disputed) |
Papua New Guinea |
|
30,000 (2015) |
| Turkish Sign Language | Ottoman Sign Language | Turkey |
| 300,000 (2019)[7] |
| Algerian Sign Language |
French Sign Language family |
Algeria |
|
240,000 (2008) |
| Japanese Sign Language | JSL Family | Japan |
| 126,000 (2019) |
| Mexican Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Urban Mexico |
| 130,000 (2010 projection) |
| French Sign Language | French Sign Language family. Descended from Old French Sign Language | Native to France. Spoken in Switzerland, Mali, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Togo, Vietnam |
| 100,000 (2019) |
| German Sign Language | German Sign Language family | Germany |
| 80,000 (2014) |
| British Sign Language | BANZSL | United Kingdom |
| 80,000 (2014) |
| Malaysian Sign Language | French Sign Language family through ASL | Malaysia |
| 60,000 (2013) |
| Polish Sign Language | German Sign Language family | Poland |
| 38,000 to 50,000 (2014) |
| Italian Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Italy |
Officially Recognized language in Sicily. | 40,000 (2014) |
| New Zealand Sign Language | BANZSL | New Zealand |
An official language of New Zealand since 2006. | 23,000 (2018 census)[8] |
| Yugoslav Sign Language | French Sign Language family through Austro-Hungarian | Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia |
| 22,000 (2010-2014) |
| Uruguayan Sign Language |
French Sign Language family |
Uruguay |
Legally recognized in Uruguay since 2001 under Law 17.378[9][10] |
20,000 (2019)[11] |
| Hong Kong Sign Language | Chinese Sign Language family | Hong Kong |
| 20,000 (2007) |
| Nepali Sign Language |
Indo-Pakistani Sign Language or language isolate (disputed) |
Nepal |
|
20,000 (2014) |
| Taiwan Sign Language |
Japanese Sign Language family |
Taiwan |
|
20,000 (2004) |
| Dutch Sign Language | French Sign Language family | Netherlands |
| 15,000 (2019) |
| Auslan | BANZSL | Australia |
| 10,000 (2016 census) |
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