Samoa

Summary

Official Name

Independent State of Samoa

International Conventions

CPPDCE (2015), CSICH (2013), ICCPR (2008), UNCRPD (2016), UNDRIP (2009)

Population

201,000

Principal Languages

English, Samoan

Literacy Rate

99% (2018 UNESCO)

General References

Besnier 1992, Campbell and King 2011, Wurm and Hattori 1981

Language Counts

The number of established languages listed for Samoa is 2. All are living languages. Of these, 1 is indigenous and 1 is non-indigenous. Furthermore, 2 are institutional.

Languages

English eng: Users: 123,900 in Samoa, all users. L1 users: 18,900 in Samoa (2019). L2 users: 105,000 (2019). Status: 1 (National). Statutory national language (1960, Constitution, Article 54). Classification: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English
Samoan smo: Users: 176,000 in Samoa (2019). Total users in all countries: 422,540. Status: 1 (National). Statutory national language (1960, Constitution, Article 54). Autonym: Gagana Samoa Classification: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, Central-Eastern Oceanic, Remote Oceanic, Central Pacific, East Fijian-Polynesian, Polynesian, Nuclear, Samoic-Outlier, Samoan

Languages by Status

1 (National)

Samoan

[smo] 1 (National). Statutory national language (1960, Constitution, Article 54). 176,000 in Samoa (2019). Total users in all countries: 422,540.

English

[eng] 1 (National). Statutory national language (1960, Constitution, Article 54). 123,900 in Samoa, all users. L1 users: 18,900 in Samoa (2019). L2 users: 105,000 (2019).