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Western Sydney (LGA)Community profile

Western Sydney (LGA)

Proficiency in English

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In Western Sydney (LGA) in 2021, 222,475 people who spoke a language other than English at home reported difficulty speaking English.

Proficiency in English measures the self-assessed proficiency in spoken English of people who speak a language other than English at home. The data, when viewed with other ethnic and cultural indicators, such as Ancestry, Country of Birth, Language Spoken at Home and Religion, reflects Western Sydney (LGA)'s ethnic composition and how long the overseas born have been in Australia. This helps service providers determine whether they need to communicate with the local population in languages other than English.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'How well does the person speak English?'

Proficiency in English
Western Sydney (LGA) - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
English proficiencyNumber%Greater Sydney %Number%Greater Sydney %2016 to 2021
Speaks English only1,258,12848.357.31,175,90951.058.4+82,219
Speaks English well or very well978,72937.531.3807,66835.029.3+171,061
Speaks English not well or not at all222,4758.56.4196,5638.56.5+25,912
Not stated147,2005.65.0127,0645.55.8+20,136
Total population2,606,532100.0100.02,307,204100.0100.0+299,328
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

Dominant groups

Analysis of the proficiency in English data of the population in Western Sydney (LGA) in 2021 compared to Greater Sydney shows that there was a lower proportion of people who spoke English only, and a higher proportion of people who spoke another language and English not well or not at all.

Overall, 48.3% of people spoke English only, and 8.5% spoke another language and English not well or not at all, compared with 57.3% and 6.4% respectively for Greater Sydney.

Emerging groups

The most significant changes in the proficiency in English of the population in this area between 2016 and 2021 were in those speaking:

  • Speaks English well or very well (+171,061 persons)
  • Speaks English only (+82,219 persons)
  • Speaks English not well or not at all (+25,912 persons)

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