Indigenous languages: the pace of extinction is slower than expected—but still alarming – UdeMNouvelles
Mar 06, 2025
On average every month across the globe, two Indigenous languages disappear, according to the United Nations. And 40 per cent of the world’s languages, mostly Indigenous, are threatened with long-term extinction as fewer and fewer people speak them.
Underscoring the urgency of the situation, the UN proclaimed 2022-2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages.
“It would be great if we could raise awareness and convince decision-makers to address this problem,” said Michaël Boissonneault, a professor in Université de Montréal’s Department of Demography and Population Sciences.
As a specialist in public-policy research, Boissonneault has been examining the status of Indigenous language-speaking populations in Canada.
