Diversity Of Language - Australia's Cultural Diversity - Racism. No Way

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While English is the dominant language in Australia, many people speak a language other than English within their families and communities. This linguistic diversity is an asset for Australia and makes us more competitive in trade as well as fostering international ties and cultural exchange.

The following data is derived from the 2021 Census:

  • Collectively, Australians speak over 400 languages. Of these, 167 are actively spoken Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
  • About 23% of respondents reported speaking a language other than English at home. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are spoken by less than 1% of the total population.
  • The most common languages other than English are: Mandarin (685, 274), Arabic (367,159), Vietnamese (320,758), Cantonese (295,281), Punjabi (239,033), Greek (229,643) and Italian (228,042). Collectively, Chinese languages (including Cantonese, Mandarin and other Chinese languages) have the greatest number of speakers after English, accounting for approximately 4% of the total population.
  • The languages other than English spoken at home vary between the states.
Figure 5: Languages other than English spoken at home 2021

Graph: Languages other than English spoken at home 2021

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021, Customised tables
Top 10 languages other than English spoken at home in 2021 by State and Territory
NSW Victoria Queensland South Australia Western Australia Tasmania Northern Territory Australian Capital Territory Other Territories
Mandarin Mandarin Mandarin Mandarin Mandarin Mandarin Kriol Mandarin Malay
Arabic Vietnamese Vietnamese Italian Italian Nepali Djambarrpuyngu Nepali Norf’k-Pitcairn
Cantonese Greek Punjabi Greek Vietnamese Punjabi Greek Vietnamese Mandarin
Vietnamese Punjabi Spanish Vietnamese Punjabi Spanish Nepali Punjabi Cantonese
Hindi Italian Cantonese Punjabi Cantonese Cantonese Tagalog Hindi Min Nan
Greek Arabic Korean Arabic Tagalog Urdu Mandarin Cantonese Tagalog
Spanish Cantonese Hindi Cantonese Arabic Vietnamese Warlpiri Spanish Fijian
Nepali Hindi Taglag Hindi Afrikaans German Filipino Arabic Indonesian
Italian Sinhalese Italian Nepali Spanish Hindi Murrinh Patha Urdu Filipino
Korean Spanish Japanese Hazaraghi Filipino Greek Tiwi Italian Spanish
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021, Customised tables

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