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FIND FREE RESOURCESIn the Australia, 20.8% of people spoke a language other than English at home in 2016.
The Australia's language statistics show the proportion of the population who speak 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.
The Australia'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 changes in ABS rules around perturbation and additivity of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals in 2016, counts of individual language groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS. For more information see notes on data confidentiality.
'Does the person speak a language other than English at home?'
| Language spoken at home - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2016 | 2011 | Change | ||||
| Language (excludes English) | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | 2011 to 2016 |
| Mandarin | 596,703 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 336,178 | 1.6 | 2.3 | +260,525 |
| Arabic | 321,720 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 287,171 | 1.3 | 2.0 | +34,549 |
| Cantonese | 280,943 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 263,538 | 1.2 | 1.8 | +17,405 |
| Vietnamese | 277,391 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 233,388 | 1.1 | 1.6 | +44,003 |
| Italian | 271,602 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 299,829 | 1.4 | 1.8 | -28,227 |
| Greek | 237,583 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 252,211 | 1.2 | 1.7 | -14,628 |
| Filipino/Tagalog | 182,498 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 136,846 | 0.6 | 0.8 | +45,652 |
| Hindi | 159,637 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 111,349 | 0.5 | 0.7 | +48,288 |
| Spanish | 140,813 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 117,493 | 0.5 | 0.7 | +23,320 |
| Punjabi | 132,500 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 71,231 | 0.3 | 0.5 | +61,269 |
Excludes languages spoken at home by fewer than 10 people.
| Language spoken at home - Summary | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2016 | 2011 | Change | ||||
| Language summary | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | 2011 to 2016 |
| Speaks English only | 17,020,418 | 72.7 | 66.3 | 16,509,302 | 76.8 | 70.4 | +511,116 |
| Non-English total | 4,858,804 | 20.8 | 27.8 | 3,904,326 | 18.2 | 24.7 | +954,478 |
| Not stated | 1,522,684 | 6.5 | 5.9 | 1,094,096 | 5.1 | 5.0 | +428,588 |
| Total Population | 23,401,906 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 21,507,724 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +1,894,182 |
Analysis of the language spoken at home by the population of the Australia in 2016 compared to Greater Capital Cities 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, 72.7% of the population spoke English only, and 20.8% spoke a non-English language, compared with 66.3% and 27.8% respectively for Greater Capital Cities.
The dominant language spoken at home, other than English, in the Australia was Mandarin, with 2.5% of the population, or 596,703 people speaking this language at home.
The major difference between the languages spoken at home for the population of the Australia and Greater Capital Cities in 2016 was:
Between 2011 and 2016, the number of people who spoke a language other than English at home increased by 954,478 or 24.4%, and the number of people who spoke English only increased by 511,116 or 3.1%.
The largest changes in the spoken languages of the population in the Australia between 2011 and 2016 were for those speaking:
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