Greater Capital Cities
Language used at home
In Greater Capital Cities, 29.4971 of people used a language other than English at home in 2021.
Greater Capital Cities'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 Capital Cities'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.
Derived from the Census question:
'Does the person use a language other than English at home?'
Total population
| Language used at home - Summary | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | |||||
| Language summary | Number | % | Regional Australia % | Number | % | Regional Australia % | 2001 to 2021 | |
| Speaks English only | 10,851,968 | 65.5 | 85.0 | 36500 | 8,782,409 | 74.4 | 90.3 | +2,069,559 |
| Non-English total | 4,886,507 | 29.5 | 7.9 | 36501 | 2,452,335 | 20.8 | 5.0 | +2,434,172 |
| Not stated | 827,585 | 5.0 | 7.1 | 36502 | 577,334 | 4.9 | 4.8 | +250,251 |
| Total Population | 16,566,060 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 11,812,078 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +4,753,982 | |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing (opens a new window) 2001 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (opens a new window)(informed decisions).
| Language used at home - Ranked by size | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | |||||
| Language (excludes English) | Number | % | Regional Australia % | Number | % | Regional Australia % | 2001 to 2021 | |
| Mandarin | 625,263 | 3.8 | 0.5 | 36007 | 130,418 | 1.1 | 0.1 | +494,845 |
| Arabic | 346,375 | 2.1 | 0.2 | 36004 | 201,416 | 1.7 | 0.1 | +144,959 |
| Vietnamese | 300,526 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 36037 | 166,850 | 1.4 | 0.1 | +133,676 |
| Cantonese | 277,811 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 36006 | 212,328 | 1.8 | 0.2 | +65,483 |
| Greek | 213,088 | 1.3 | 0.2 | 36015 | 244,932 | 2.1 | 0.2 | -31,844 |
| Punjabi | 206,001 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 36088 | 12,001 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +194,000 |
| Italian | 193,329 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 36022 | 298,475 | 2.5 | 0.8 | -105,146 |
| Hindi | 180,322 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 36016 | 44,406 | 0.4 | 0.0 | +135,916 |
| Filipino/Tagalog | 177,384 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 36011 | 68,507 | 0.6 | 0.1 | +108,877 |
| Spanish | 143,510 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 36034 | 82,002 | 0.7 | 0.1 | +61,508 |
| Nepali | 110,287 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 36081 | 2,288 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +107,999 |
| Korean | 102,343 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 36025 | 36,511 | 0.3 | 0.0 | +65,832 |
| Urdu | 100,391 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 36108 | 11,335 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +89,056 |
| Tamil | 87,516 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 36035 | 22,151 | 0.2 | 0.0 | +65,365 |
| Sinhalese | 76,977 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 36033 | 19,080 | 0.2 | 0.0 | +57,897 |
| Gujarati | 72,681 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 36064 | 5,120 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +67,561 |
| Persian | 66,613 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 36019 | 23,367 | 0.2 | 0.0 | +43,246 |
| Indonesian | 65,724 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 36018 | 35,330 | 0.3 | 0.0 | +30,394 |
| Bengali | 62,844 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 36050 | 10,376 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +52,468 |
| Malayalam | 60,832 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 36077 | 2,836 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +57,996 |
| Turkish | 59,705 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 36036 | 45,898 | 0.4 | 0.1 | +13,807 |
| Assyrian/Aramaic | 59,667 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 36048 | 17,883 | 0.2 | 0.0 | +41,784 |
| French | 54,406 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 36013 | 31,909 | 0.3 | 0.1 | +22,497 |
| Macedonian | 54,202 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 36026 | 58,164 | 0.5 | 0.2 | -3,962 |
| Portuguese | 53,242 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 36029 | 20,271 | 0.2 | 0.0 | +32,971 |
| Telugu | 52,193 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 36099 | 3,203 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +48,990 |
| Thai | 51,331 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 36102 | 13,926 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +37,405 |
| Serbian | 49,685 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 36032 | 42,699 | 0.4 | 0.1 | +6,986 |
| Russian | 47,973 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 36030 | 31,823 | 0.3 | 0.0 | +16,150 |
| German | 47,167 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 36014 | 51,458 | 0.4 | 0.3 | -4,291 |
| Samoan | 44,671 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 36031 | 21,039 | 0.2 | 0.0 | +23,632 |
| Croatian | 44,324 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 36009 | 57,336 | 0.5 | 0.1 | -13,012 |
| Japanese | 42,806 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 36023 | 20,881 | 0.2 | 0.1 | +21,925 |
| Polish | 38,318 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 36028 | 50,249 | 0.4 | 0.1 | -11,931 |
| Hazaraghi | 38,033 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 36114 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Khmer | 37,828 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 36024 | 21,281 | 0.2 | 0.0 | +16,547 |
| Afrikaans | 32,918 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 36044 | 5,978 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +26,940 |
| Dari | 28,052 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 36113 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Maltese | 23,549 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36027 | 37,390 | 0.3 | 0.1 | -13,841 |
| Marathi | 20,561 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36080 | 2,076 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +18,485 |
| Min Nan (incl.Hokkien) | 18,941 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36068 | 12,434 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +6,507 |
| Dutch | 18,348 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 36010 | 26,897 | 0.2 | 0.2 | -8,549 |
| Burmese | 16,696 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36053 | 5,562 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +11,134 |
| Tongan | 16,607 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36105 | 8,871 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +7,736 |
| Malay | 15,915 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 36076 | 6,857 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +9,058 |
| Bosnian | 15,418 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36051 | 14,403 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +1,015 |
| Somali | 14,763 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36094 | 4,631 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +10,132 |
| Kannada | 13,626 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36071 | 1,817 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +11,809 |
| Hungarian | 13,591 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36017 | 20,355 | 0.2 | 0.1 | -6,764 |
| Swahili | 13,400 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36096 | 1,019 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +12,381 |
| Pashto | 11,421 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36086 | 1,532 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +9,889 |
| Romanian | 11,178 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36089 | 9,394 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +1,784 |
| Auslan | 10,958 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 36049 | 2,419 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +8,539 |
| Armenian | 10,697 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36047 | 9,551 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +1,146 |
| Dinka | 10,371 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36059 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Māori (New Zealand) | 10,328 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36079 | 3,958 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +6,370 |
| Shona | 10,292 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36091 | 310 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +9,982 |
| Hebrew | 10,206 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36066 | 5,491 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +4,715 |
| Albanian | 9,690 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36045 | 6,516 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +3,174 |
| Hakka | 8,790 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36065 | 7,079 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +1,711 |
| Karen | 8,692 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 36072 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Australian Indigenous Languages | 8,505 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 36005 | 2,859 | 0.0 | 0.7 | +5,646 |
| Lao | 8,337 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 36074 | 8,311 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +26 |
| Amharic | 7,698 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36046 | 1,373 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +6,325 |
| Chinese, nfd | 7,460 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36055 | 13,549 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -6,089 |
| Fijian | 7,249 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36061 | 4,034 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +3,215 |
| Swedish | 6,788 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36097 | 3,451 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +3,337 |
| Kurdish | 6,257 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36073 | 2,673 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +3,584 |
| Chin Haka | 6,075 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36003 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Czech | 6,004 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36056 | 5,962 | 0.1 | 0.0 | +42 |
| Tigrinya | 5,797 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36112 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Ukrainian | 5,497 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36107 | 8,454 | 0.1 | 0.0 | -2,957 |
| Mongolian | 4,855 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36127 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Slovak | 4,631 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36092 | 4,057 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +574 |
| Fijian Hindustani | 4,400 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36002 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Māori (Cook Island) | 4,141 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36078 | 2,647 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +1,494 |
| Oromo | 4,124 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36085 | 551 | 0.0 | -- | +3,573 |
| Wu | 4,049 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36110 | 968 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +3,081 |
| Serbo-Croatian Yugoslavian, so described | 3,581 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36090 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Akan | 3,491 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36118 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Danish | 3,453 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36057 | 3,812 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -359 |
| Finnish | 3,370 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36063 | 3,808 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -438 |
| Konkani | 3,331 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36116 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Yoruba | 2,951 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36120 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Kirundi (Rundi) | 2,888 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36122 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Slovene | 2,523 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36093 | 3,849 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -1,326 |
| Bulgarian | 2,444 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36052 | 1,672 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +772 |
| Krio | 2,069 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36121 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Hmong | 2,024 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36067 | 1,019 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +1,005 |
| Tok Pisin (Neomelanesian) | 2,003 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36123 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Tibetan | 1,983 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36103 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Rohingya | 1,920 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36117 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Latvian | 1,819 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36075 | 4,497 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -2,678 |
| Norwegian | 1,788 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36083 | 1,999 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -211 |
| Mauritian Creole | 1,750 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36119 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Lithuanian | 1,624 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36115 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Uygur | 1,574 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36109 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Yiddish | 1,449 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36111 | 2,600 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -1,151 |
| Estonian | 1,435 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36060 | 1,362 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +73 |
| Nuer | 1,390 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36084 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Sign languages, nfd | 1,217 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36124 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Tetum | 1,078 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36101 | 660 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +418 |
| Indo-Aryan, nfd | 680 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36070 | 1,622 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -942 |
| Tokelauan | 599 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36104 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Tswana | 374 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 36106 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
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Excludes languages spoken at home by fewer than 10 people.
Compiled and presented in profile.id by .id (informed decisions).
Compiled and presented in profile.id by .id (informed decisions).
Dominant groups
Analysis of the language used at home by the population of Greater Capital Cities in 2021 compared to Regional Australia 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, 65.5% of the population used English only, and 29.5 used a non-English language, compared with 85.0% and 7.9% respectively for Regional Australia.
The dominant language used at home, other than English, in Greater Capital Cities was Mandarin, with 3.8% of the population, or 625,263 people using this language at home.
The major differences between the languages used at home for the population of Greater Capital Cities and Regional Australia in 2021 were:
- A larger percentage using Mandarin at home (3.8% compared to 0.5%)
- A larger percentage using Arabic at home (2.1% compared to 0.2%)
- A larger percentage using Vietnamese at home (1.8% compared to 0.2%)
- A larger percentage using Cantonese at home (1.7% compared to 0.2%)
Emerging groups
Between 2001 and 2021, the number of people who used a language other than English at home increased by 2,434,172 or 99.3%, and the number of people who used English only increased by 2,069,559 or 23.6%.
The largest changes in the languages used by the population in Greater Capital Cities between 2001 and 2021 were for those using:
- Mandarin (+494,845 persons)
- Punjabi (+194,000 persons)
- Arabic (+144,959 persons)
- Hindi (+135,916 persons)