Half of the world's 7,000 languages are expected to die out by 2100

A language dies roughly every two weeks as the last fluent speaker passes away. UNESCO estimates that of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken today, between 50% and 90% will be extinct by the end of this century. When a language disappears, it takes with it unique ways of categorising the world — including knowledge of local ecosystems found nowhere else.

Source: UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (2010)