Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sâo Tomé e Principe (B), Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Introduced to Puerto Rico (B), USA (B).
Sub-Saharan Africa except in driest regions: southern Mauritania south to Liberia, east to Mali and southern Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, north-eastern and southern Chad (Ennedi Massif and southern Ouaddai region), Central African Republic, central and southern and Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and from Gulf of Guinea (islands of Bioko and Sío Tomé) east to Kenya, central and southern Somalia, Tanzania and Zanzibar, and south to Namibia, northern and eastern Botswana and South Africa.Introduced on Puerto Rico, in Caribbean.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura) [XC877899]
by \u00c9tienne Leroy from Bol\u00e9ko, Lope, Ogoou\u00e9-Ivindo, Gabon (song)
Pin-tailed Whydah (Vidua macroura) [XC300891]
by Hans Matheve from Debre Libanos area, Ethiopia (song)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Supposedly paler birds in south of range described as subspecies arenosa, but not constantly different in plumage colour from birds in western and eastern Africa.