Malayalam is spoken in the Indian state of Kerala. It is also a prevalent dialect in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry. Malayalam is among the 22 registered languages of India spoken by over 2.88% of Indians. Likewise, over 34 million people speak Malayalam globally. It is a prevalent language among the linguistic minorities in the neighboring Indian states with a notable number of native speakers in the Nilgiris, and Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, it is further a famously spoken language in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. While there are numerous Malayali emigrants in the Persian Gulf, Malayalam is also extensively spoken in the Gulf countries.