16 Cosmopolitan Most Culturally and Ethnically Diverse Countries in the World in 2017

Do you know which are the cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017?

When we talk about cosmopolitanism, we think of openness and sharing of the values, regardless of the territory or nationality, among every person on the planet Earth. Some say this is utopian perspective, while others argue that it is the only proper way to look at. In any case, one thing is for sure — there are many countries that are diverse in many senses, and in many cases, those diversities could cause great problems. However, in some countries, and mainly on the African continent, people are preserving their tradition of respecting the other cultures and treating them in a non-violent way. Still, with recent developments of the refugee crisis, we can see it is not the case in every country.

Diversity is often seen through ethnic lenses, and we wrote about it before in our article on most ethnically diverse countries in the world. However, this can be seen from another perspective as well, for example, cultural one. The most culturally diverse country in the world is considered to be, according to some resources, Cameroon. This country is on our list as well, and to see how it ranked, you will have to wait a little bit more. But, what exactly multiculturality is? It’s not just pure awareness of different cultures on one territory, but their collaboration as well, without having to give up on their own particular identities. It is the quality that most tolerant countries in the world probably share. Thus, Cameroon, as you will see in the following text, could be considered as one of the most multicultural countries in the world. In addition, if you want to find out a bit more on this topic, check out the 11 Most Multicultural Countries in The World.

If we think about the most diverse city, some argue that it could be Dubai. However, according to Culture Trip, the number one when it comes to the most culturally diverse cities in the world is Toronto. Moreover, most cosmopolitan cities in the world besides Toronto and Dubai are Brussels, Auckland and San Francisco. As for the most cosmopolitan cities in the US, the answer is Los Angeles, San Jose and, of course, New York. If somebody asks me to name the most multicultural country in the world, I would definitely say Switzerland. However, I would be wrong! To see which are the both most ethnically and most culturally diverse countries, we did the following. In the search for credible sources, we found two studies. The first one is done by James D. Fearon in 2003 (updated in 2013), and it’s about ethnic and cultural diversity by country. The other study we used is done by Alberto Alesina, also in 2003 and it’s about ethnic, linguistic and religious fractionalization in 190 countries. For reference’s sake, from Alesina’s research, we just took data of ethnic fractionalization. By combining the two lists and comparing them, we got our results. Unfortunately, those were the latest data we could find. That’s why we used recently updated data from Nation Master and Ethnologue (after all, a language is the foundation of every culture) to provide you with information about each country (and you should know there are all African countries). Moreover, there shouldn’t be any major differences for the present year, since those parameters aren’t prone to quick change, so we took the results as valid for the year 2017 as well.

And now, let’s check out our list of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017.

16. Somalia

According to the Nation Masters, Somalia has 85% of Somalis, 15% of Bantu and other non-Somalis and finally, around 30,000 of Arabs. The largest group, in this case, Somalis are divided into clans. Those clan groups represent social units, which take a great role when it comes to the issues concerning culture and politics. Clans are patrilineal, and even they are further divided into sub-clans. According to Ethnologue, Somalia has 14 living languages.

15. Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau is considered to be one of the smallest and poorest West African countries. The main language is Crioulu, which has the roots in Portuguese. Guinea-Bissau has many ethnic groups out of which the biggest percent is African population with 99% (includes Balanta 30%, Fula 20%, Manjaca 14%, Mandinga 13%, Papel 7%). There are also Europeans and Mulatto who have less than 1%. The number of languages in this country is 27.

14. Malawi

Another quite diverse African country is Malawi. There are many ethnic groups as you can see – Chewa 32.6%, Lomwe 17.6%, Yao 13.5%, Ngoni 11.5%, Tumbuka 8.8%, Nyanja 5.8%, Sena 3.6%, Tonga 2.1%, Ngonde 1% and others 3.5%. Malawi got the name from the Bantu people who came from the southern Congo 600 years ago under the name Maravi. Even though there are many ethnical groups, ethnic and tribal distinctions have diminished. There were no many conflicts based on the division as the culture of Malawi people is traditionally non-violent. Malawi has 23 different languages.

13. Ghana

The ethnic group that has a majority in Ghana is Akan with 47.5%. Other are Mole-Dagbon 16.6%, Ewe 13.9%, Ga-Dangme 7.4%, Gurma 5.7%, Guan 3.7%, Grusi 2.5%, Mande-Busanga 1.1% and other groups with 1.6%. Primary language, which is also the official one is English. However, there are others such as the Fante, Frafra, Dangme, just to name few, that are taught in schools as well and have official status. Can you believe that Ghana has 87 different languages?

12. Kenya

On the 12th place of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017 is Kenya because of the large number of different ethnic groups – Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African ethnic groups 15% and non-African ethnic groups (Asian, European, and Arab) 1%. In Kenya, 72 languages are spoken.

11. Gabon

Gabon is a French equatorial country that has over forty ethnic groups. However, the biggest one is the Fang with 40% of the population. Other major groups are also the Teke, the Eshira, and the Pounou, which are all Bantu tribes. There is around 154,000 of Europeans and 10,700 of French, as well. Each ethnic group has their own ceremonies for birth, death, and healing, among others. They are known as very spiritual people. Gabonese people speak 43 different languages.

10. Madagascar

Among many ethnic groups, some of the major ones are: Malayo-Indonesian (Merina and related Betsileo), Cotiers (mixed African, Malayo-Indonesian, and Arab ancestry – Betsimisaraka, Tsimihety, Antaisaka, Sakalava), French, Indian, Creole, and Comoran. Malagasy refer to themselves and their language as Malagasy, and in addition, they call their country Madagasikara. On the other hand, French speakers refer to the people and the language as Malgache and the nation as Madagascar. In total, they have 20 different languages besides the official one.

9. Republic of the Congo

The number 9 in our list of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017 is Congo. Its major ethnic groups are Kongo 48%, Sangha 20%, M’Bochi 12%, and Teke 17%, while the percentage of Europeans and other smaller groups is 3%. They use French as the official language. One of the most important things in their culture is mythology which is closely related to the mystical power of animals. A total number of languages in this country is 65.

8. South Africa

On the 8th place on our list of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017 is South Africa. Black Africans are the largest group with 79%, then Whites 9.6%, colored 8.9% and finally Indian/Asian with 2.5%. South Africans have become increasingly urbanized and westernized, so their tradition is gradually losing its importance. Number of languages they speak is 42.

7. Togo

Ethnic groups in Togo are following: African (37 tribes; largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre) 99%, European and Syrian-Lebanese with less than 1%. French is the official language of this country, but there are many native African languages that are spoken as well. In total, a number of languages is 46, according to the Ethnologue. Even though there is a big influence of the Western culture, more than half of the people in Togo still follow animistic practices and beliefs.

6. Cameroon

Cameroon has various ethnic groups: Cameroon Highlanders 31%, Equatorial Bantu 19%, Kirdi 11%, Fulani 10%, Northwestern Bantu 8%, Eastern Nigritic 7%, other African 13% and non-African with less than 1%. This country is known not just for its ethnic diversity, but also because of the significant diversity in culture. There are 280 languages and customs!

5. Liberia

We are continuing our list of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017 with Liberia that has majority of indigenous Africans – 95%, including Kpelle, Bassa, Gio, Kru, Grebo, Mano, Krahn, Gola, Gbandi, Loma, Kissi, Vai, Dei, Bella, Mandingo, and Mende, then Americo-Liberians 2.5% (descendants of immigrants from the US who had been slaves) and finally Congo people 2.5% (descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean who had been slaves). Even though there are 34 different languages, the official one is English and the majority of population practice Christianity.

4. Uganda

Fourth on our list of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017 is Uganda. Its population consists of different ethnic groups and some of the are Baganda 16.9%, Banyankole 9.5%, Basoga 8.4%, Bakiga 6.9%, Iteso 6.4%, Langi 6.1%, Acholi 4.7%, Bagisu 4.6%, Lugbara 4.2%, Bunyoro 2.7%, etc. In the north are people who speak Nilotic languages, while the other spoken language is Lumasaba. There is also some small percent of Pygmies who live isolated in the rainforests of the western part of the country. However, the total number of different languages is 45.

3. The Democratic Republic of Congo

Out of more than 200 African ethnic groups, the majority are Bantu – the four largest tribes – Mongo, Luba, Kongo (all Bantu), and the Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic) make up about 45% of the population. It has 212 mother tongues, while the most common ones are Kikongo in the southwest, Lingala in the northwest, Tshiluba in the central part of country and Swahili in the east.

2. Tanzania

In Tanzania that ranks 2nd in our list of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017, 99% are African people out of which 95% are Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes. Other 1% are consisted of Asian, European, and Arab. A total of 126 languages are spoken in Tanzania, most of them are from the Bantu family. However, the official ones are Swahili and English.

1. Papua New Guinea

On the top of our list of cosmopolitan most culturally and ethnically diverse countries in the world in 2017 is Papua New Guinea. Its population consists of Melanesian, Papuan, Negrito, Micronesian and Polynesians. Moreover, around 7000 different cultural groups exist in Papua New Guinea, and most groups have their own language. So, in total there are even 840 different languages spoken! In addition, these groups have developed their own expressive forms in arts, dance, and weaponry, to name few.