This language is taught in schools and serves as a lingua franca in the country, along with Dioula.

Baoulé is spoken east of Lake Kossou and at the capital Yamoussoukro, and Anyi along the Ghanaian border.

The lake and the river Bandama divide the Kwa east of the country from the Kru and Mande west.

In the northeast corner, surrounding Comoé National Park, are a quarter million speakers each of Kulango, the Gur language Lobi, and the Mande language Jula (French: Dioula), which is a lingua franca of neighboring Burkina Faso.

There are also three million or so speakers of immigrant languages, mostly from neighboring countries and above all from Burkina Faso.