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Wollongong City CouncilCommunity profile

Wollongong City

Language spoken at home

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In 2021, 83.0% of the population born in India in Wollongong City Council, spoke a language other than English at home.

Wollongong City Council's language statistics show the proportion of the overseas-born population who speak a language at home other than English. They indicate how linguistically diverse a population is, and whether most migrants are from English speaking countries or non-English speaking countries. This topic also shows those languages spoken specifically by the first-generation migrants (those born overseas) so as to separate them from those born in Australia who speak another language.

Some countries, such as India, have a variety of languages spoken there, so the language spoken can indicate the region of the country of origin. Languages such as Arabic and Spanish are spoken in a range of different countries.

Wollongong City Council's language statistics should be analysed in conjunction with Proficiency in English to assist in identifying specific cultural and ethnic groups in the area and the services required by the multicultural community.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'Does the person use a language other than English at home?'

Language spoken at home - Ranked by size
Wollongong City Council - born in India20212016Change
LanguageNumber%Regional NSWNumber%Regional NSW2016 to 2021
Malayalam64227.718.442029.219.4+222
Hindi39216.911.629720.614.7+95
Punjabi23610.231.8755.227.5+161
Telugu1596.95.3745.14.9+85
Tamil1476.33.41218.43.9+26
Marathi883.81.6433.01.4+45
Gujarati652.89.1402.86.6+25
Kannada592.51.0392.71.1+20
Urdu492.11.3161.11.0+33
Bengali361.60.7281.90.8+8
Show all (11 entries)
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Excludes languages with fewer than 10 people speaking them at home.

Language spoken at home - Summary
Wollongong City Council - born in India20212016Change
Language summaryNumber%Regional NSWNumber%Regional NSW2016 to 2021
Speaks English only37816.312.522415.614.9+154
Non-English total1,92683.086.41,21184.184.6+715
Not stated160.71.150.30.5+11
Total people2,320100.0100.01,440100.0100.0+880
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Dominant groups

Analysis of the language spoken at home by the population born in India in Wollongong City Council in 2021 compared to Regional NSW shows that there was a larger proportion of people who spoke English only, and a smaller proportion of those speaking a non-English language (either exclusively, or in addition to English).

Overall, 16.3% of the population born in India spoke English only, and 83.0%% spoke a non-English language, compared with 12.5% and 86.4% respectively for Regional NSW.

The dominant language spoken at home by the population born in India, other than English, in Wollongong City Council was Malayalam, with 27.7% of the population, or 642 people speaking this language at home.

The major differences between the languages spoken at home for the population born in India in Wollongong City and Regional NSW were:

  • A larger percentage speaking Malayalam at home (27.7% compared to 18.4%)
  • A larger percentage speaking Hindi at home (16.9% compared to 11.6%)
  • A smaller percentage speaking Punjabi at home (10.2% compared to 31.8%)
  • A smaller percentage speaking Gujarati at home (2.8% compared to 9.1%)

Emerging groups

Between 2016 and 2021, the number of the population born in India who spoke a language other than English at home increased by 715 or 59.0%, and the number of people who spoke English only increased by 154 or 68.8%.

The largest changes in the spoken languages of the population in Wollongong City between 2016 and 2021 were for those speaking:

  • Malayalam (+222 persons)
  • Punjabi (+161 persons)
  • Hindi (+95 persons)
  • Telugu (+85 persons)

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