Largest African Ethnic Groups

Largest African Ethnic Groups – Overall

1. *Egyptians* are an African ethnic group that consists of over one-hundred million people but are not ranked above.
Ethnic group/ People/ Tribe		Population (#)	Language Family	Countries	Region
Ethnic group/ People/ Tribe		Population (#)	Language Family	Countries	Region
Berber	Arab-Berber		Afro-Asiatic, Semitic	Maghreb (Mauritania, Morocco, Western Sahara), Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya	North Afrika
	Berber
	Maghrebis
Hausa		40,000,000 – 45,000,000	Afro-Asiatic, Chadic	Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Ghana, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan	West Afrika
Yoruba		45,993,000 – 47,000,000	Niger–Congo, Volta–Niger	Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone	West Afrika
Igbo		32,684,301 – 35,000,000	Niger–Congo, Volta–Niger	Nigeria	West Afrika
Oromo		37,731,489 – 39,000,000	Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic	Ethiopia	Horn of Afrika
Mandé	Mandé	30,000,000 – 40,000,000	Niger-Congo, Mande	Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau	West Afrika
Mandé	Mandinka	18,000,000 – 19,000,000	Niger-Congo, Mande		West Afrika
Hutu		23,000,000 – 25,000,000	Niger–Congo, Bantu	Rwanda, Burundi, and DR Congo	Central Afrika
Fulani		20,000,000 – 30,000,000	Niger-Congo, Senegambian	Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Cameroon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo	The Sahel and West Afrika
Akan		20,000,000	Niger–Congo, Kwa	Ghana, Ivory Coast	West Afrika
Somalis			Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic	Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya	Horn of Afrika
Amhara		19,867,817	Afro-Asiatic, Semitic	Ethiopia	Horn of Afrika
Mandinka		18,000,000 – 19,000,000	Niger-Congo, Mande	Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau	West Afrika
Kongo		17,254,808	Niger–Congo, Bantu	DR Congo, Angola, Congo Republic	Central Afrika
Shona			Niger–Congo, Bantu	Zimbabwe and Mozambique	East Afrika
Zulu		13,234,900 – 14,159,000	Niger–Congo, Bantu	South Africa	Southern Afrika
Chewa		12,000,000	Niger–Congo, Bantu	Malawi, Zambia	Central Afrika
Kanuri			Nilo-Saharan	Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon	Central Afrika
Mongo			Niger–Congo, Bantu	Congo, Democratic Republic	Central Afrika

Largest Afrikan Ethnic Groups by Country

Countries	Ethnic group/ People/ Tribe	Population (%)	Language Family
Countries	Ethnic group/ People/ Tribe	Population (%)	Language Family
Algeria	Arab-Berber	99 %	Afro-Asiatic, Berber
Angola	Ovimbundu (a.k.a. Southern Mbundu)	37%	Bantu
Benin	Fon	38.4%	Niger–Congo, Gbe
Botswana	Tswana	79%	Bantu
Burkina Faso	Mossi	52%	Niger-Congo, Gur
Burundi	Hutu (a.k.a. Abahutu)	85%	Bantu
Cameroon	Cameroon Highlanders	31%
Cabo Verde	Creole Mulatto	71%
Central African Republic	Gbaya	20% – 26%	Niger-Congo, Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka
Chad	Sara	25.9%	Nilo-Saharan
Comoros	Afro-Arab	86%	Bantu
Congo, Democratic Republic	Mongo	12%	Bantu
Congo, Republic	Kongo	40.5% – 48%	Bantu
Côte d’Ivoire	Akan	28.9% – 42.1%	Niger-Congo, Kwa
Djibouti	Somali	60%	Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic
Egypt	Egyptian	99.6%	Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Equatorial Guinea	Fang	85.7%	Bantu
Eritrea	Tigrinya	55%	Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Eswatini	Swazi	84.3%	Bantu
Ethiopia	Oromo	34.4%	Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic
Gabon	Fang	23.2%	Bantu
The Gambia	Mandinka/ Jahanka	34%	Niger-Congo, Mande
Ghana	Akan	47.5%	Niger-Congo, Kwa
Guinea	Fulani	33.9%	Niger-Congo, Senegambian
Guinea-Bissau	Fulani	28.5%	Niger-Congo, Senegambian
Kenya	Kikuyu	17.1%	Bantu
Lesotho	Sotho	99.7%	Southern Bantu
Liberia	Kpelle	17.1 % – 20.3%	Niger-Congo, Mande
Libya	Arab-Berber	97%	Afro-Asiatic, Berber
Madagascar	Merina	26%	Austronesian, Barito
Malawi	Chewa	34.3%	Bantu
Mali	Mandinka	52.5%	Niger-Congo, Mande
Mauritania	Haratin (a.k.a. Black Moors)	40%	Afro-Asiatic, Semitic & Berber
Mauritius	Indo-Mauritians	59.1%
Morocco	Arab-Berber	99%	Afro-Asiatic, Berber
Mozambique	Makhuwa	24.6%	Bantu
Namibia	Ovambo	49%	Bantu
Niger	Hausa	38.8%	Afro-Asiatic, Chadic
Nigeria	Hausa	30%	Afro-Asiatic, Chadic
Rwanda	Hutu	84%	Bantu
São Tomé & Príncipe	Mestiços	33%-68%
Senegal	Wolof	44.1%	Niger-Congo, Senegambian
Seychelles	Seychellois Creole (mainly of East African and Malagasy heritage)	78.3%
Sierra Leone	Temne	28.4% – 35%	Niger-Congo, Mel
Somalia	Somali	79% – 85%	Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic
South Africa	Zulu	23.7 %	Southern Bantu
South Sudan	Dinka	35.8%	Nilo-Saharan
Sudan	Sudanese Arab	70%	Afro-Asiatic, Semitic
Tanzania	Sukuma	17.7%	Bantu
Togo	Adja-Ewe	37%-42.4%	Niger-Congo, Gbe
Tunisia	Arab-berber	98%	Afro-Asiatic, Berber
Uganda	Baganda	16.5%	Great Lakes Bantu
Zambia	Bemba	21%	Bantu
Zimbabwe	Shona	82%	Bantu