90 percent of world’s languages will disappear in 100 years: UN
January 14th, 2010 - 6:09 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Jan 14 (IANS) A UN report on the state of the world’s indigenous peoples Thursday said about 90 percent of the world’s languages which are spoken by indigenous peoples may be extinct in the next 100 years.
It further said indigenous peoples across the globe suffer from disproportionately high rates of poverty, health problems, crime and human rights abuse.
“There are between 6,000 to 7,000 oral languages in the world today. Around 97 percent of the world’s population speaks four percent of its languages, while only three percent speaks 96 percent of them. A great majority of them are in danger of becoming extinct,” the report, which was released Thursday, said.
It said roughly 90 per cent of all languages spoken by indigenous peoples might disappear in the next 100 years.
One of the main reasons for the dying out of languages is that they are no longer passed from one generation to the next and governments are not doing enough to record or revitalise them.
“Worldwide more than 50 percent of indigenous adults suffer from type 2 diabetes - a number predicted to rise,” the report said.
“While indigenous peoples make up around 370 million of the world’s population - some 5 percent - they constitute around one-third of the world’s 900 million extremely poor rural people. Poor nutrition and limited access to care and resources result in indigenous people’s life expectancy to be 20 years lower than their non-indigenous counterparts,” it added.
An indigenous population is any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number.
The report went on to say that one of the biggest threats facing the indigenous peoples in any part of the world is displacement.
“When indigenous peoples have tried to assert their rights (during displacement) they have suffered physical abuse, torture and even death,” the report said, quoting such instances in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hawaii, Rwanda, Colombia and Congo.
Climate change further threatens the indigenous peoples’ existence since it has socio-economic implications.
- Three out five indigenous people more likely to commit crime in Australia - Mar 18, 2010
- Airtel touches 50 million customers mark in Africa - Nov 30, 2011
- Rwanda beckons Indian investors, entrepreneurs - Oct 25, 2010
- Rwanda delegation to visit India for investment - Oct 17, 2011
- Oprah Winfrey to endorse Aboriginal art - Oct 26, 2010
- World population will be 7 billion Oct 31 - Oct 27, 2011
- 'Never again' says Rwanda on 18th anniversary of genocide - Apr 08, 2012
- Mumbai tops list of homes to slum dwellers: Unicef report - Feb 29, 2012
- UN expert expresses need of culturally adequate reforms for indigenous in Australia - Mar 10, 2010
- Apartheid prevails at Australian hotel's pubs - Apr 06, 2011
- WWW2011: Focusing on internet's next billion users - Mar 24, 2011
- Rebels kill 21 in Congo - Nov 17, 2010
- Software turns spoken English into 26 languages - Mar 15, 2012
- India, UN to help growth in Rwanda - Apr 11, 2011
- Religion set for extinction in nine countries, says census data - Mar 22, 2011
Tags: 100 years, counterparts, diabetes, displacement, ethnic group, globe, governments, health problems, human rights, immigrants, indigenous people, indigenous peoples, indigenous population, life expectancy, New Delhi, oral languages, poor nutrition, poverty, type 2 diabetes, world today