If it loses all of its native people, it becomes an extinct language.

UNESCO defines four levels of language endangerment between "safe" (not endangered) and "extinct":[1] Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent.

At about 30.2 million km2 (11.7 million sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area.

[2] With about 922 million people (as of 2005)[3] in 61 territories, it accounts for about 16.1% of the world's human population.

The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.