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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Greater Melbourne, 34.1% of people used a language other than English at home in 2021.
Greater Melbourne's language statistics show the proportion of the population who use a language at home other than English. They indicate how culturally diverse a population is and the degree to which different ethnic groups and nationalities are retaining their language.
Greater Melbourne's language statistics should be analysed in conjunction with Country of Birth and Proficiency in English to assist in identifying specific cultural and ethnic groups in the area and the services required by the multicultural community.
Please note: Due to ABS rules regarding perturbation of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals, counts of individual language groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS.
Q:
Derived from the Census question:
'Does the person use a language other than English at home?'
| Language used at home - Summary | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Melbourne - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Language summary | Number | % | Canberra % | Number | % | Canberra % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Speaks English only | 3,003,007 | 61.1 | 71.3 | 2,496,375 | 68.5 | 81.0 | +506,632 |
| Non-English total | 1,678,490 | 34.1 | 24.6 | 945,169 | 25.9 | 14.5 | +733,321 |
| Not stated | 236,253 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 204,270 | 5.6 | 4.5 | +31,983 |
| Total Population | 4,917,750 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 3,645,814 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +1,271,936 |
| Language used at home - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Melbourne - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Language (excludes English) | Number | % | Canberra % | Number | % | Canberra % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Mandarin | 212,680 | 4.3 | 3.2 | 62,439 | 1.7 | 1.1 | +150,241 |
| Vietnamese | 115,314 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 71,078 | 1.9 | 1.0 | +44,236 |
| Greek | 103,658 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 114,158 | 3.1 | 0.8 | -10,500 |
| Punjabi | 97,684 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 7,805 | 0.2 | 0.1 | +89,879 |
| Arabic | 87,689 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 53,755 | 1.5 | 0.4 | +33,934 |
| Italian | 83,637 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 120,361 | 3.3 | 1.1 | -36,724 |
| Cantonese | 80,584 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 65,635 | 1.8 | 0.9 | +14,949 |
| Hindi | 64,259 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 17,653 | 0.5 | 0.4 | +46,606 |
| Sinhalese | 47,504 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 16,739 | 0.5 | 0.2 | +30,765 |
| Filipino/Tagalog | 46,168 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 20,291 | 0.6 | 0.4 | +25,877 |
Show all (105 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the language used at home by the population of Greater Melbourne in 2021 compared to Canberra shows that there was a smaller proportion of people who used English only, and a larger proportion of those using a non-English language (either exclusively, or in addition to English).
Overall, 61.1% of the population used English only, and 34.1% used a non-English language, compared with 71.3% and 24.6% respectively for Canberra.
The dominant language used at home, other than English, in Greater Melbourne was Mandarin, with 4.3% of the population, or 212,680 people using this language at home.
The major differences between the languages used at home for the population of Greater Melbourne and Canberra in 2021 were:
- A larger percentage using Greek at home (2.1% compared to 0.6%)
- A larger percentage using Vietnamese at home (2.3% compared to 1.1%)
- A larger percentage using Mandarin at home (4.3% compared to 3.2%)
- A larger percentage using Italian at home (1.7% compared to 0.6%)
Emerging groups
Between 2006 and 2021, the number of people who used a language other than English at home increased by 733,321 or 77.6%, and the number of people who used English only increased by 506,632 or 20.3%.
The largest changes in the languages used by the population in Greater Melbourne between 2006 and 2021 were for those using:
- Mandarin (+150,241 persons)
- Punjabi (+89,879 persons)
- Hindi (+46,606 persons)
- Vietnamese (+44,236 persons)
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