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Australian Capital Territory · Capital City

Language in Australian Capital Territory

The languages spoken in homes across the area, beyond English.

Nearly a quarter of people in the Australian Capital Territory now use a language other than English at home. This trend has grown since 2016, reflecting a community that is becoming more linguistically diverse than the national average.

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📍 Australian Capital Territory, Capital City

Languages at home

English and the largest community languages.

Around 24.6% of people speak another language at home, which is a little above the national figure of 22.3%. While English is the main language for 71.3% of residents, others commonly speak Mandarin, Vietnamese, Punjabi, or Hindi. Only 2.5% of the population speaks little or no English, a figure that has barely changed since 2016.

People using another language at home

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24.6% —

Higher than 83% of capital city areas.

Share of people who use a language other than English at home.

People who speak little or no English

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2.5% ▼ -6.1%

Higher than 71% of capital city areas.

Share of people who use another language at home and speak English not well or not at all. No 2011 figure — that census only asked proficiency of overseas-born residents.

Language used at home

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In Australian Capital Territory, English only is the majority at 88%; Mandarin is next at 4%.

English only 71.3% Mandarin 3.2% Vietnamese 1.1% Punjabi 1.1% Hindi 1.0% Cantonese 0.9% Arabic 0.9% Italian 0.6% Greek 0.6% Tagalog 0.5%

Sources

  • Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).

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Cite this page

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Language in Australian Capital Territory [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/gccsa/8ACTE/australian-capital-territory/topic/language