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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Greater Adelaide, 21.3% of people used a language other than English at home in 2021.
Greater Adelaide'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 Adelaide'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 Adelaide - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Language summary | Number | % | Queensland % | Number | % | Queensland % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Speaks English only | 1,037,870 | 74.8 | 80.5 | 937,333 | 81.0 | 86.4 | +100,537 |
| Non-English total | 296,070 | 21.3 | 13.2 | 169,877 | 14.7 | 7.7 | +126,193 |
| Not stated | 53,350 | 3.8 | 6.3 | 49,989 | 4.3 | 5.9 | +3,361 |
| Total Population | 1,387,290 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1,157,199 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +230,091 |
| Language used at home - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Adelaide - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2006 | Change | ||||
| Language (excludes English) | Number | % | Queensland % | Number | % | Queensland % | 2006 to 2021 |
| Mandarin | 31,056 | 2.2 | 1.6 | 8,592 | 0.7 | 0.6 | +22,464 |
| Italian | 22,644 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 33,823 | 2.9 | 0.6 | -11,179 |
| Vietnamese | 21,362 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 13,596 | 1.2 | 0.4 | +7,766 |
| Greek | 20,511 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 24,024 | 2.1 | 0.3 | -3,513 |
| Punjabi | 18,743 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 711 | 0.1 | 0.1 | +18,032 |
| Arabic | 10,773 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 5,233 | 0.5 | 0.2 | +5,540 |
| Cantonese | 9,958 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 7,862 | 0.7 | 0.5 | +2,096 |
| Hindi | 9,656 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 1,905 | 0.2 | 0.2 | +7,751 |
| Nepali | 9,478 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 89 | 0.0 | 0.0 | +9,389 |
| Filipino/Tagalog | 9,417 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 3,450 | 0.3 | 0.3 | +5,967 |
Show all (102 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the language used at home by the population of Greater Adelaide in 2021 compared to Queensland 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, 74.8% of the population used English only, and 21.3% used a non-English language, compared with 80.5% and 13.2% respectively for Queensland.
The dominant language used at home, other than English, in Greater Adelaide was Mandarin, with 2.2% of the population, or 31,056 people using this language at home.
The major differences between the languages used at home for the population of Greater Adelaide and Queensland in 2021 were:
- A larger percentage using Italian at home (1.6% compared to 0.3%)
- A larger percentage using Greek at home (1.5% compared to 0.2%)
Emerging groups
Between 2006 and 2021, the number of people who used a language other than English at home increased by 126,193 or 74.3%, and the number of people who used English only increased by 100,537 or 10.7%.
The largest changes in the languages used by the population in Greater Adelaide between 2006 and 2021 were for those using:
- Mandarin (+22,464 persons)
- Punjabi (+18,032 persons)
- Italian (-11,179 persons)
- Nepali (+9,389 persons)
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