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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Greater Sydney, 37.4% of people used a language other than English at home in 2021.
Greater Sydney'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 Sydney'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 Sydney - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Language summary | Number | % | Australia % | Number | % | Australia % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Speaks English only | 2,995,240 | 57.3 | 72.0 | 2,632,621 | 66.7 | 80.0 | +362,619 |
| Non-English total | 1,957,409 | 37.4 | 22.3 | 1,082,394 | 27.4 | 15.1 | +875,015 |
| Not stated | 278,498 | 5.3 | 5.7 | 233,175 | 5.9 | 4.9 | +45,323 |
| Total Population | 5,231,147 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 3,948,190 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +1,282,957 |
| Language used at home - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Sydney - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2001 | Change | ||||
| Language (excludes English) | Number | % | Australia % | Number | % | Australia % | 2001 to 2021 |
| Mandarin | 259,429 | 5.0 | 2.7 | 63,687 | 1.6 | 0.7 | +195,742 |
| Arabic | 219,483 | 4.2 | 1.4 | 142,433 | 3.6 | 1.1 | +77,050 |
| Cantonese | 144,538 | 2.8 | 1.2 | 116,301 | 2.9 | 1.2 | +28,237 |
| Vietnamese | 113,154 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 65,886 | 1.7 | 0.9 | +47,268 |
| Hindi | 76,308 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 27,260 | 0.7 | 0.3 | +49,048 |
| Greek | 73,163 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 83,829 | 2.1 | 1.4 | -10,666 |
| Filipino/Tagalog | 72,432 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 40,060 | 1.0 | 0.4 | +32,372 |
| Spanish | 63,395 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 44,683 | 1.1 | 0.5 | +18,712 |
| Nepali | 61,643 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1,666 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +59,977 |
| Korean | 60,116 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 29,452 | 0.7 | 0.2 | +30,664 |
Show all (105 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the language used at home by the population of Greater Sydney in 2021 compared to 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, 57.3% of the population used English only, and 37.4% used a non-English language, compared with 72.0% and 22.3% respectively for Australia.
The dominant language used at home, other than English, in Greater Sydney was Mandarin, with 5.0% of the population, or 259,429 people using this language at home.
The major differences between the languages used at home for the population of Greater Sydney and Australia in 2021 were:
- A larger percentage using Arabic at home (4.2% compared to 1.4%)
- A larger percentage using Mandarin at home (5.0% compared to 2.7%)
- A larger percentage using Cantonese at home (2.8% compared to 1.2%)
Emerging groups
Between 2001 and 2021, the number of people who used a language other than English at home increased by 875,015 or 80.8%, and the number of people who used English only increased by 362,619 or 13.8%.
The largest changes in the languages used by the population in Greater Sydney between 2001 and 2021 were for those using:
- Mandarin (+195,742 persons)
- Arabic (+77,050 persons)
- Nepali (+59,977 persons)
- Hindi (+49,048 persons)
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