Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, central and southern Mali, Burkina Faso and northern Ivory Coast east to northern Cameroon, southern Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan, western Ethiopia, Eritrea, north-eastern DRCongo, Uganda (except south-west), western Kenya and northern Tanzania (in Serengeti).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Little Weaver (Ploceus luteolus) [XC177633]
by Rory Nefdt from Mole National Park, Ghana, Ghana (call)
Little Weaver (Ploceus luteolus) [XC537151]
by isaac kilusu from Ruma National Park, Kenya (call)
Subspecies
Has been thought to form a species group or a superspecies with Slender-billed Weaver (Ploceus pelzelni) and Loango Weaver (Ploceus subpersonatus), but such a relationship considered unlikely. Birds from western foot of Mt Elgon, in Uganda, sometimes separated as subspecies kavirondensis, but considered inseparable from those in rest of species' range.
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
luteolus (Lichtenstein, MHK, 1823) - Southern Mauritania and Senegambia east to southern Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia to north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, western Kenya, and northern Tanzania.
kavirondensis (van Someren, 1921) - Uganda, western Kenya and north-western Tanzania.