Languages Used in Government, Administration,
and Education in Africa

French Speaking Countries in Africa

Click here for French homepage: DIBICA

BENIN Official Language: French Capital: Porto Novo	COMOROS (Federal Islamic Rep.) Official Languages: Arabic and French Capital: Moroni	GUINEA Official Language: French Capital: Conakry	MAYOTTE Official Language: French Capital: Dzaoudzi
BURKINA FASO Official Language: French Capital: Ouagadougou	DEM REP CONGO (formerly Zaire) Official Language: French Capital: Kinshasa	EQUATORIAL GUINEA Official Language: Spanish and French Capital: Malabo	NIGER Official Language: French Capital: Niamey
BURUNDI Official Languages: French, Kirundi, and Kiswahili Capital: Bujumbura	CONGO (Rep.of ) Official Language: French Capital: Braazaville	MADAGASCAR Official Languages: Madagasy and French Capital: Antananarivo	REUNION Official Language: French Capital: St. Denis
CAMEROON Official Languages: French and English Capital: Yaounde	COTE D’IVOIRE Official Language: French Capital: Abidjan	MALI Official Language: French Capital: Bamako	RWANDA Official Languages: French and Kinyarwanda Capital: Kigali
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Official Language: French Capital: Bangui	DJIBOUTI Official Languages: Arabic and French Capital: Djibouti	MAURITANIA (Islamic Rep. of) Official Languages: Arabic and French Capital: Nouakchott	SENEGAL Official Languages: Wolof and French Capital: Dakar SEYCHELLES Official Languages: Creole, English and French Capital: Victoria TOGO Official Language: French Capital: Lome
CHAD Official Language: French Capital: N’Djamena	GABON Official Language: French Capital: Libreville	MAURITIUS Official Languages: English and French Capital: Port Louis

French Used in Government and Education

ALGERIA
Official Language: Arabic
Capital: Algiers

MOROCCO
(Al-Mamlaka al-Maghrebia)
Official Language: Arabic
Capital: Rabat

TUNISIA
(Al-Djoumhouri Attunisia)
Official Language: Arabic
Capital: Tunis

English Speaking Countries in Africa

Click here for English homepage: DACB

BOTSWANA Official Language: English Capital: Gaborone	LESOTHO (Kingdom of) Official Languages: Sesotho and English Capital: Maseru	NIGERIA Official Language: English Capital: Abuja	SWAZILAND (Kingdom of) Official Languages: English and Siswati Capital: Mbabane
CAMEROON Official Languages: French and English Capital: Yaounde	LIBERIA Official Language: English Capital: Monrovia	SEYCHELLES Official Languages: Creole, English and French Capital: Victoria	TANZANIA Official Languages: Kiswahili and English Capital: Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (administrative)
GAMBIA Official Language: English Capital: Banjul	MALAWI Official Languages: Chichewa and English Capital: Lilongwe	SIERRA LEONE Official Language: English Capital: Freetown	UGANDA Official Language: English, Kiswahili, Luganda, Luo Capital: Kampala
GHANA Official Language: English Capital: Accra	MAURITIUS Official Languages: English and French Capital: Port Louis	SOUTH AFRICA Official Languages: English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, SiSwati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu Capital: Cape Town (legislative); Pretoria (administrative); Bloemfontein (judicial)	ZAMBIA Official Language: English Capital: Lusaka
KENYA Official Languages: Kiswahili and English Capital: Nairobi	NAMIBIA Official Language: English Capital: Windhoek		ZAMBIA Official Language: English Capital: Lusaka
	NAMIBIA Official Language: English Capital: Windhoek		ZIMBABWE Official Languages: English, Shona, Ndebele Capital: Harare

Countries where Kiswahili is an Official Language

Click here for Swahili homepage: KAWAKIA

BURUNDI Official Languages: French, Kirundi, Kiswahili Capital: Bujumbura	TANZANIA Official Languages: Kiswahili and English Capital: Dar es Salaam; Dodoma (administrative)	UGANDA Official Language: English, Kiswahili, Luganda, Luo Capital: Kampala
KENYA Official Languages: Kiswahili and English Capital: Nairobi

Countries where Portuguese is an Official Language

Click here for Portuguese homepage: DIBICA

ANGOLA Official Language: Portuguese Capital: Luanda	GUINEA-BISSAU Official Language: Portuguese Capital: Bissau	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE Official Language: Portuguese Capital: Sao Tome
CAPE VERDE Official Languages: Portuguese and Creole Capital: Praia	MOZAMBIQUE Official Language: Portuguese Capital: Maputo

Countries where Arabic is an Official Language

ALGERIA Official Language: Arabic Capital: Algiers	EGYPT Official Language: Arabic Capital: Cairo	MOROCCO (Al-Mamlaka al-Maghrebia) Official Language: Arabic Capital: Rabat	TUNISIA (Al-Djoumhouri Attunisia) Official Language: Arabic Capital: Tunis
COMOROS (Federal Islamic Rep.) Official Languages: Arabic and French Capital: Moroni	LIBYA Official Language: Arabic Capital: Tripoli/Benghazi	SOMALIA Official Languages: Somali and Arabic Capital: Mogadishu	WESTERN SAHARA Official Language: Arabic Capital: El Aiun
DJIBOUTI Official Languages: Arabic and French Capital: Djibouti	MAURITANIA (Islamic Republic of) Official Languages: Arabic and French Capital: Nouakchott	SUDAN Official Language: Arabic Capital: Khartoum

Other Official Languages used in Africa

BURUNDI Official Languages: French, Kirundi, Kiswahili Capital: Bujumbura	LESOTHO (Kingdom of) Official Languages: Sesotho and English Capital: Maseru	SENEGAL Official Languages: Wolof and French Capital: Dakar	SOUTH AFRICA Official Languages: English, Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sesotho, SiSwati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu Capital: Cape Town (legislative); Pretoria (administrative); Bloemfontein (judicial)
CAPE VERDE Official Languages: Portuguese and Creole Capital: Praia	MADAGASCAR Official Languages: Malagasy and French Capital: Antananarivo	SEYCHELLES Official Languages: Creole, English and French Capital: Victoria
EQUITORIAL GUINEA Official Language: Spanish Capital: Malabo	MALAWI Official Languages: Chichewa and English Capital: Lilongwe	SOMALIA Official Languages: Somali and Arabic Capital: Mogadishu
ERITREA Official Language: Trigrinya Capital: Asmara	RWANDA Official Languages: French and Kinyarwanda Capital: Kigali	SWAZILAND (Kingdom of) Official Languages: English and Siswati Capital: Mbabane
ETHIOPIA Official Language: Amharic Capital: Addis Ababa	LESOTHO (Kingdom of) Official Languages: Sesotho and English Capital: Maseru	UGANDA Official Language: English, Kiswahili, Luganda, Luo Capital: Kampala	ZIMBABWE Official Languages: English, Shona, Ndebele Capital: Harare