Malagasy and French are the two official languages of Madagascar, and official practice permits the use of either language for education and public administration. Malagasy Ofisialy provides a standardized form for nationwide institutional use. Its historical basis lies in Merina and Imerina usage, but it functions beyond that region as a common bridge variety. Malagasy is also a macrolanguage with regional varieties rather than a single uniform spoken form. Examples include Merina, Betsileo, Betsimisaraka, Tsimihety, Sakalava, Antandroy or Tandroy, Antakarana and Sihanaka. Linguistic estimates often identify about 10 to 18 varieties, but the classification remains disputed. Regional speech can matter in local education and cultural life, while institutional schooling and standardized orthography influence which forms receive formal use. The 2018 RGPH-3 census recorded speaking ability among people aged three and over: Malagasy 99.9%, French 23.6%, English 8.2% and other languages 0.6%. French and English were much more widely reported in urban than rural areas: French 47.2% versus 17.8%, and English 19.8% versus 5.4%. The figures do not show whether a language is actively used every day, learned as a second language or spoken as a mother tongue, so they should not be read as direct measures of fluency or institutional access. No separate constitutional system granting minority languages their own administrative status is established in the available national framework. Regional Malagasy varieties are generally treated institutionally as part of Malagasy. Reliable current data on non-Malagasy minority or heritage languages are not available. There is also no verified nationwide right to an interpreter or general language-service standard for every public procedure; practical access can therefore vary by institution, region, education and urbanisation. The Ministry of National Education, the High Constitutional Court, the General Secretariat of the Government and its DIRCNLEGIS service, INSTAT and the Académie Malagasy each have relevant roles in language policy, legal review, statistics, education or linguistic and cultural work. In August 2026, the High Constitutional Court found Law 2026-005 unconstitutional before promulgation because it imposed Malagasy in education, training, citizen relations and state communication with sanctions. That decision means the law did not create a confirmed exclusive Malagasy requirement. Education remains a reform area. Ministry and UNESCO work in 2025 continued to address curriculum, language of instruction and local linguistic contexts. An older policy plan envisaged Malagasy during the first three years of the first sub-cycle and French in the final year of the second sub-cycle, but implementation was not shown to be uniform nationwide. In media, ORTM provides the public broadcasting framework, with TVM and RNM as central television and radio services, but reliable current language-share statistics are not established. Malagasy literature is part of the national curriculum, and bilingual cultural works such as Boke Arofototse in Tandroy with a French translation show how regional language and national or international access can coexist. The Académie Malagasy supports linguistic, ethnological, sociological and literary work.
Language in Madagascar
Madagascar’s language landscape is centred on Malagasy, the national language, and French, an official language used alongside it in public life. Malagasy Ofisialy is an institutionally standardized variety historically based on Merina and Imerina and serves as a nationwide bridge variety, while regional Malagasy varieties form a diverse dialect continuum. The 2018 census reported speaking ability for Malagasy among 99.9% of people aged three and over, compared with 23.6% for French and 8.2% for English; these figures measure ability to speak, not active use or mother tongue. Language choice affects access to administration, education, media, culture and public participation, especially where French-based institutions are more common.
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