The
Benue–Congo group of languages constitutes the largest branch of the
Niger–Congo language family, both in terms of sheer number of languages, of which
Ethnologue (2009) counts 900, and in terms of speakers, numbering perhaps 350 million. Within Niger–Congo, Benue–Congo is a branch of
Atlantic–Congo, and perhaps also of
Volta–Congo if that turns out to be a valid group. When it was first proposed by
Joseph Greenberg (1963) it included the
Volta–Niger languages (as West Benue–Congo); the boundary with those languages and with
Kwa has been repeatedly debated. Blench (2012) states that if Benue–Congo is taken to be "the noun-class languages east and north of the Niger", it is likely to be a valid group, though no demonstration of this has been made in print.