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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Greater Brisbane, 17.7% of people used a language other than English at home in 2021.
Greater Brisbane'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 Brisbane'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 Brisbane - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Language summary | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Speaks English only | 1,952,518 | 77.3 | 65.5 | 1,559,858 | 84.2 | 72.3 | +392,660 |
| Non-English total | 447,669 | 17.7 | 29.5 | 192,241 | 10.4 | 21.7 | +255,428 |
| Not stated | 126,051 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 100,284 | 5.4 | 6.0 | +25,767 |
| Total Population | 2,526,238 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1,852,383 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +673,855 |
| Language used at home - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Brisbane - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Language (excludes English) | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Mandarin | 64,045 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 20,007 | 1.1 | 1.6 | +44,038 |
| Vietnamese | 26,607 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 15,944 | 0.9 | 1.5 | +10,663 |
| Punjabi | 22,507 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1,451 | 0.1 | 0.2 | +21,056 |
| Cantonese | 21,694 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 15,418 | 0.8 | 1.8 | +6,276 |
| Filipino/Tagalog | 19,665 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 6,890 | 0.4 | 0.6 | +12,775 |
| Spanish | 19,467 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 7,928 | 0.4 | 0.7 | +11,539 |
| Hindi | 17,093 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 6,574 | 0.4 | 0.5 | +10,519 |
| Korean | 15,138 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 4,688 | 0.3 | 0.4 | +10,450 |
| Samoan | 15,103 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 8,781 | 0.5 | 0.2 | +6,322 |
| Arabic | 12,007 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 5,433 | 0.3 | 1.9 | +6,574 |
Show all (105 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the language used at home by the population of Greater Brisbane in 2021 compared to Greater Capital Cities shows that there was a larger proportion of people who used English only, and a smaller proportion of those using a non-English language (either exclusively, or in addition to English).
Overall, 77.3% of the population used English only, and 17.7% used a non-English language, compared with 65.5% and 29.5% respectively for Greater Capital Cities.
The dominant language used at home, other than English, in Greater Brisbane was Mandarin, with 2.5% of the population, or 64,045 people using this language at home.
The major differences between the languages used at home for the population of Greater Brisbane and Greater Capital Cities in 2021 were:
- A smaller percentage using Arabic at home (0.5% compared to 2.1%)
- A smaller percentage using Mandarin at home (2.5% compared to 3.8%)
Emerging groups
Between 2006 and 2021, the number of people who used a language other than English at home increased by 255,428 or 132.9%, and the number of people who used English only increased by 392,660 or 25.2%.
The largest changes in the languages used by the population in Greater Brisbane between 2006 and 2021 were for those using:
- Mandarin (+44,038 persons)
- Punjabi (+21,056 persons)
- Filipino/Tagalog (+12,775 persons)
- Spanish (+11,539 persons)
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