Pashto

Pashto (پښتو)

Pashto is a member of the southeastern Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian
languages spoken in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. There are three main
varieties of Pashto: Northern Pashto, spoken mainly in Pakistan; Southern
Pashto, spoken mainly in Afghanistan; and Central Pashto, spoken mainly
in Pakistan.

The exact number of Pashto speakers is not known for sure, but most
estimates range from 45 million to 55 million. Pashto is the first language
of between 40% and 55% (11 to 15.4 million) of the people of Afghanistan,
and 10% to 28% (2.8 to 7.8 million) speak it as a second language, and the
total is around 18 or 19 million.

Pashto has about 25 million speakers in Pakistan (15% of the population)
in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) the Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA), and the provinces of Balochistan, Mianwali, Attock, Sindh, Punjab.

Pashto at a glance

  • Native name: پښتو [paʂˈto]
  • Alternative names: Pushtu, Pushto, Pukhto, Afghan(i)
  • Linguistic affliation: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Southeastern
  • Number of speakers: c. 45-55 million
  • Spoken in: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, India, Tajikistan
  • First written: 16th century
  • Writing system: Arabic script
  • Status: one of the official languages of Afghanistan
  • Post category:Languages
  • Reading time:2 mins read