The national and official language of Bangladesh is Bengali according to the third article of the Constitution of Bangladesh. With 98% of Bangladeshis fluent in Bengali (including dialects) as their first language, Bangladesh is the only monolingual country in South Asia. Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 made it mandatory to use Bengali in all government affairs except in the cases of foreign relations.According to a 2011 census, Bengali is predominantly spoken by 98% of the country's population and it also serves as the national language of the nation. The indigenous people of northern and southeastern Bangladesh speak a variety of native languages.