Numbers of fluent speakers range from approximately 300,000 to 575,000, with the main languages being Suret (Assyrian; 220,000 speakers) and Surayt/Turoyo (250,000 speakers), with a number of smaller closely related languages with no more than 5,000 to 10,000 speakers between them.

Despite their names, they are not restricted to specific churches; Chaldean Neo-Aramaic being spoken by members of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox