The 250 or so "Narrow Bantu languages" are conventionally divided up into geographic zones first proposed by Malcolm Guthrie (1967–1971).

The list is first summarized, with links to articles on accepted groups of Bantu languages (bold decade headings).

Ethnologue made multiple changes to Guthrie in an attempt to make the classification more historically accurate.

S Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, N Gabon Zone A is sometimes considered Forest Bantu.

Southern Bantoid Jarawan was assigned to Zone A by Gerhardt (1982) and Blench (ms 2006, 2011), specifically to A60, within Mbam.

Much of F20 and F30, including the major language Sukuma, have been reclassified as Northeast Bantu, with Bungu to Rukwa and Sumbwa as Great Lakes.

Uganda, Rwanda–Burundi, near lakes Kivu & Victoria E Angola, W Zambia K20 Lozi is now classified as Southern Bantu, specifically Shona [citation needed].

S DR-Congo, C Zambia L20 Songe (apart perhaps from Lwalu), L30 Luba, L40 Kaonde, and L60 Nkoya have been grouped as Luban.

Malawi and surrounding areas, C Mozambique, N. Zimbabwe, W. Zambia N10 Manda has been classified as Rufiji–Ruvuma, and the N20 Tumbuka 'dialect' Senga as Sabi.

NE Mozambique, SE Tanzania P10 Matuumbi and P20 Yao have been classified as Rufiji–Ruvuma, P15 Mbunga as Kilombero, P30 Makhuwa as Southern Bantu.

SW Angola, N Namibia, N Botswana R20 Ovambo, R30 Herero, and R10 apart from Umbundu have been grouped together as Southwest Bantu.