Malayalam (
/ˌmæləˈjɑːləm/;
[7] Malayalam: മലയാളം,
Malayāḷam ?,
[mɐlɐjäːɭɐm] (
listen)) is a
Dravidian language[8] spoken in the Indian state of
Kerala and the union territories of
Lakshadweep and
Puducherry (
Mahé district) by the
Malayali people. It is one of 22
scheduled languages of India and is spoken by 2.88% of Indians. Malayalam has
official language status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry (
Mahé),
[9][10][11] and is spoken by 34 million people worldwide.
[2] Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with significant number of speakers in the
Kodagu and
Dakshina Kannada districts of
Karnataka, and
Nilgiris and
Kanyakumari, districts of
Tamil Nadu. Due to Malayali expatriates in the
Persian Gulf, Malayalam is also widely spoken in the
Gulf countries.