List of sign languages by number of native signers

The following are sign languages reported to be spoken by at least 10,000 people.

Estimates for sign language use are very crude, and definitions of what counts as proficiency varied. For most sign languages we do not have even a crude estimate. For instance, there are reported to be a million signers in Ethiopia, but it is unknown which or how many sign languages they use.

The 2013 edition of Ethnologue lists 137 sign languages.

Language	Family or origin	Legal recognition and where spoken natively by significant population	Ethnologue estimate
Chinese Sign Language	Language isolate	Native to China.Also spoken in Malaysia and Taiwan.	unknown
Brazilian Sign Language	Language isolate? French Sign Language?	Legally recognized by law 10.436, April 24, 2002 - Native to Brazil.	3,000,000 (no date)
Indo-Pakistani Sign Language	Related to Nepalese Sign Language and possibly other sign languages of the region	No legal recognition. Native to India, Bangladesh and Nepal.	2,700,000 in India (2003)
American Sign Language	French Sign Language family. Descended from Old French Sign Language and Martha's Vineyard Sign Language	Usually recognized as fulfilling a "foreign language" requirement by several colleges and used as the language of instruction in most deaf schools. Native to United States, Canada and Guatemala. Used in varying degrees in Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Kenya, Madagascar and Zimbabwe.	≈ 500,000 in the USA
Hungarian Sign Language	French: Austrian		≈ 350,000 (2006)
Kenyan Sign Language	Unknown	Native to Kenya.	340,000
Japanese Sign Language	JSL Family	Native to Japan.	320,000
Ecuadorian Sign Language	Isolate?		188,000 (1986)
Norwegian-Malagasy Sign Language	Danish SL	Native to Norway. Also used in Madagascar	185,000 (5,000 in Norway; 2006)
British Sign Language	BANZSL. Descended, in part, from Old Kent Sign Language among other home sign systems in Britain	Native to United Kingdom.	125,000
Russian Sign Language	French Sign Language family	Native to Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Bulgaria; partly in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania.	121,000
French Sign Language	French Sign Language family. Descended from Old French Sign Language	Native to France. Signed in Switzerland, Mali, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Togo, Vietnam	50,000–150,000
Philippine Sign Language	French Sign Language family.	Native to Philippines	100,000 (1986)
Spanish Sign Language	Unknown origin.	Officially recognized by Spanish Government. Native to Spain except Catalonia and Valencia.	100,000
Mexican Sign Language	French Sign Language family	Native to Urban Mexico.	87,000–100,000 (1986)
German Sign Language	Related to Polish Sign Language	Native to Germany.	50,000
Greek Sign Language	French-ASL mix		43,000
Irish Sign Language	French		40,000
Yugoslav Sign Language	French: Austro-Hungarian	Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia	30,000
New Zealand Sign Language	BANZSL. Descended from British Sign Language.	Native to New Zealand.	24,000 (2006)
Malaysian Sign Language	French: ASL		24,000
Hong Kong Sign Language	Chinese		20,000 (2007)
Dutch Sign Language	French		20,000
Catalan Sign Language	French?		18,000
Auslan	BANZSL. Descended from British Sign Language and Irish Sign Language.	Native to Australia.	14,000
Swedish Sign Language	Isolate, or maybe British	Native to Sweden.	over 8,000

See also

• List of sign languages
• List of languages by number of native speakers