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Northern Beaches CouncilCommunity profile

Northern Beaches Council area

Language spoken at home

In 2021, 18.1% of children aged 0 to 4 years in the Northern Beaches Council spoke a language other than English at home.

The Northern Beaches Council's language statistics show the proportion of the population in the selected age group who speak a language at home other than English, and the main languages spoken. They indicate how culturally diverse a population is and the degree to which different ethnic groups and nationalities are retaining their language at different ages.

The Northern Beaches Council's language statistics should be analysed in conjunction with Country of Birth as different cultural groups are better analysed through the different topics. For major language groups, Community of Interest profiles are available for that specific language by a range of characteristics.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

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

Language spoken at home - Ranked by size
Northern Beaches Council - 0 to 4 years20212016Change
LanguageNumber%Greater SydneyNumber%Greater Sydney2016 to 2021
Portuguese3162.20.52661.70.3+50
Spanish2601.81.01541.00.8+106
French2201.60.51851.20.4+35
German1861.30.31811.20.3+5
Mandarin1681.24.71861.24.8-18
Non-verbal, so described1581.12.02201.42.9-62
Italian1040.70.4770.50.3+27
Swedish640.50.1520.30.1+12
Armenian580.40.1390.20.1+19
Cantonese570.41.5520.31.6+5
Show all (36 entries)
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

Excludes languages with fewer than 10 people speaking them at home.

Language spoken at home - Summary
Northern Beaches Council - 0 to 4 years20212016Change
Language summaryNumber%Greater SydneyNumber%Greater Sydney2016 to 2021
Speaks English only11,12878.560.412,57280.262.0-1,444
Non-English total2,56718.133.52,36415.131.4+203
Not stated4733.36.17494.86.6-276
Total people14,168100.0100.015,685100.0100.0-1,517
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 language spoken at home by children aged 0 to 4 years in the Northern Beaches Council in 2021 compared to Greater Sydney shows that there was a larger proportion of people who spoke English only, and a smaller proportion of those speaking a non-English language (either exclusively, or in addition to English).

Overall, 78.5% of children aged 0 to 4 years spoke English only, and 18.1% of% spoke a non-English language, compared with 60.4% and 33.5% respectively for Greater Sydney.

Other than English, the dominant language spoken at home by children aged 0 to 4 years in the Northern Beaches Council was Portuguese, with 2.2% of the population, or 316 people speaking this language at home.

The major differences between the languages spoken at home for children aged 0 to 4 years of Northern Beaches Council area and Greater Sydney in 2021 were:

  • A larger percentage speaking Portuguese at home (2.2% compared to 0.5%)
  • A smaller percentage speaking Arabic at home (0.1% compared to 4.0%)
  • A smaller percentage speaking Mandarin at home (1.2% compared to 4.7%)
  • A smaller percentage speaking Vietnamese at home (0.2% compared to 1.6%)

Emerging groups

Between 2016 and 2021, the number of children aged 0 to 4 years who spoke a language other than English at home increased by 203 or 8.6%, and the number of people who spoke English only decreased by 1,444 or 11.5%.

The largest changes in the spoken languages of children aged 0 to 4 years in Northern Beaches Council area between 2016 and 2021 were for those speaking:

  • Spanish (+106 persons)
  • Non-verbal, so described (-62 persons)
  • Portuguese (+50 persons)

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