World Alphabets & Writing Systems

Interactive map of writing systems and alphabets used around the world. Explore how 194 countries write — Latin, Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese characters, Devanagari, Greek, Korean, and more.

About this map: Each country is colored by its primary writing system. Many countries use multiple scripts (shown in the table below). Some countries have regional or minority languages with different scripts. The classification reflects the most commonly used script for official purposes and everyday communication.

Writing Systems

Latin alphabet

Used by most European, American, African, and Oceanian languages

Arabic alphabet

Used for Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, and other languages

Cyrillic alphabet

Used for Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, and other Slavic languages

Devanagari

Used for Hindi, Nepali, Marathi, and other South Asian languages

Chinese characters

Logographic characters used for Chinese

Greek alphabet

Used for the Greek language

Korean alphabet

Hangul, often combined with Hanja characters

Geʽez script

Used for Amharic, Tigrinya, and other Ethiopian and Eritrean languages

Bengali alphabet

Used for Bengali (Bangla)

Hebrew alphabet

Used for Hebrew

Japanese writing system

Combines Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana

Thai script

Used for Thai

Khmer script

Used for Khmer (Cambodian)

Lao script

Used for Lao

Mon-Burmese script

Used for Burmese

Armenian alphabet

Used for Armenian

Georgian script

Used for Georgian

Sinhala script

Used for Sinhala (Sinhalese)

Tibetan script

Used for Tibetan and Dzongkha

Writing Systems by Country

Country	Primary Script	All Scripts
Afghanistan	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Albania	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Algeria	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Andorra	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Angola	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Antigua and Barbuda	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Argentina	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Armenia	Armenian alphabet	Armenian alphabet	🔗
Australia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Austria	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Azerbaijan	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Bahamas	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Bahrain	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Bangladesh	Bengali alphabet	Bengali alphabet	🔗
Barbados	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Belarus	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Belgium	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Belize	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Benin	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Bhutan	Tibetan script	Tibetan script	🔗
Bolivia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Botswana	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Brazil	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Brunei	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet, Arabic alphabet	🔗
Bulgaria	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Burkina Faso	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Burundi	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Cambodia	Khmer script	Khmer script	🔗
Cameroon	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Canada	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Cape Verde	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Central African Republic	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Chad	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Chile	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
China	Chinese characters	Chinese characters	🔗
Colombia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Comoros	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Republic of the Congo	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Costa Rica	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Côte d'Ivoire	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Croatia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Cuba	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Cyprus	Greek alphabet	Greek alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Czech Republic	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Denmark	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Djibouti	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Dominica	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Dominican Republic	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Ecuador	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Egypt	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
El Salvador	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Equatorial Guinea	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Eritrea	Geʽez script	Geʽez script, Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Estonia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Eswatini	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Ethiopia	Geʽez script	Geʽez script, Latin alphabet	🔗
Fiji	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Finland	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
France	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Gabon	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Gambia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Georgia	Georgian script	Georgian script	🔗
Germany	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Ghana	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Greece	Greek alphabet	Greek alphabet	🔗
Grenada	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Guatemala	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Guinea	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Guinea-Bissau	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Guyana	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Haiti	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Honduras	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Hungary	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Iceland	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
India	Devanagari	Devanagari, Bengali alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Indonesia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Iran	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet	🔗
Iraq	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet	🔗
Ireland	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Israel	Hebrew alphabet	Hebrew alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Italy	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Jamaica	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Japan	Japanese writing system	Japanese writing system	🔗
Jordan	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Kazakhstan	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Kenya	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Kiribati	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Kosovo	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Kuwait	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Kyrgyzstan	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Laos	Lao script	Lao script	🔗
Latvia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Lebanon	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Lesotho	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Liberia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Libya	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet	🔗
Liechtenstein	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Lithuania	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Luxembourg	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Madagascar	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Malawi	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Malaysia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet, Arabic alphabet	🔗
Maldives	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Mali	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Malta	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Mauritania	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Mauritius	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Mexico	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Federated States of Micronesia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Moldova	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Monaco	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Mongolia	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Montenegro	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Morocco	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Mozambique	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Myanmar	Mon-Burmese script	Mon-Burmese script	🔗
Namibia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Nauru	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Nepal	Devanagari	Devanagari	🔗
Netherlands	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
New Zealand	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Nicaragua	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Niger	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Nigeria	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
North Korea	Korean alphabet	Korean alphabet	🔗
North Macedonia	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Norway	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Oman	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Pakistan	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Palau	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Palestine	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Panama	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Papua New Guinea	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Paraguay	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Peru	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Philippines	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Poland	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Portugal	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Qatar	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Romania	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Russia	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Rwanda	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Saint Lucia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Samoa	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
San Marino	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
São Tomé and Príncipe	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Saudi Arabia	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Senegal	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Serbia	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Seychelles	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Sierra Leone	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Singapore	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet, Chinese characters	🔗
Slovakia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Slovenia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Solomon Islands	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Somalia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet, Arabic alphabet	🔗
South Africa	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
South Korea	Korean alphabet	Korean alphabet	🔗
Spain	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Sri Lanka	Sinhala script	Sinhala script, Latin alphabet	🔗
Sudan	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Suriname	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Sweden	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Switzerland	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Syria	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet	🔗
Taiwan	Chinese characters	Chinese characters	🔗
Tajikistan	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
Tanzania	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Thailand	Thai script	Thai script	🔗
Timor-Leste	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Togo	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Tonga	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Trinidad and Tobago	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Tunisia	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
Turkey	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Turkmenistan	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Tuvalu	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Uganda	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Ukraine	Cyrillic alphabet	Cyrillic alphabet	🔗
United Arab Emirates	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet, Latin alphabet	🔗
United Kingdom	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
United States	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Uruguay	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Uzbekistan	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Vanuatu	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Venezuela	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Vietnam	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Yemen	Arabic alphabet	Arabic alphabet	🔗
Zambia	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗
Zimbabwe	Latin alphabet	Latin alphabet	🔗