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AustraliaCommunity profile

Greater Capital Cities

Language used at home

In Greater Capital Cities, 29.5% 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.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'Does the person use a language other than English at home?'

Language used at home - Summary
Greater Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Language summaryNumber%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Speaks English only10,851,96865.572.010,060,36766.372.7+791,601
Non-English total4,886,50729.522.34,225,75427.820.8+660,753
Not stated827,5855.05.7892,6445.96.5-65,059
Total Population16,566,060100.0100.015,178,765100.0100.0+1,387,295
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Language used at home - Ranked by size
Greater Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Language (excludes English)Number%Australia %Number%Australia %2016 to 2021
Mandarin625,2633.82.7545,3723.62.5+79,891
Arabic346,3752.11.4303,8492.01.4+42,526
Vietnamese300,5261.81.3262,5211.71.2+38,005
Cantonese277,8111.71.2264,3391.71.2+13,472
Greek213,0881.30.9221,3381.51.0-8,250
Punjabi206,0011.20.9115,3880.80.6+90,613
Italian193,3291.20.9230,3311.51.2-37,002
Hindi180,3221.10.8146,4121.00.7+33,910
Filipino/Tagalog177,3841.10.9146,6551.00.8+30,729
Spanish143,5100.90.7121,4300.80.6+22,080
Show all (105 entries)

Excludes languages spoken at home by fewer than 10 people.

Dominant groups

Analysis of the language used at home by the population of Greater Capital Cities 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, 65.5% of the population used English only, and 29.5% 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 Capital Cities was Mandarin, with 3.8% of the population, or 625,263 people using this language at home.

The major difference between the languages used at home for the population of Greater Capital Cities and Australia in 2021 was:

  • A larger percentage using Mandarin at home (3.8% compared to 2.7%)

Emerging groups

Between 2016 and 2021, the number of people who used a language other than English at home increased by 660,753 or 15.6%, and the number of people who used English only increased by 791,601 or 7.9%.

The largest changes in the languages used by the population in Greater Capital Cities between 2016 and 2021 were for those using:

  • Punjabi (+90,613 persons)
  • Mandarin (+79,891 persons)
  • Nepali (+55,574 persons)
  • Arabic (+42,526 persons)

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