34.8% ▲ +16.5%
Higher than 88% of council (lga) areas.
- 2011: 29.9%
- 2016: 36.2%
- 2021: 34.8%
Share of people who use a language other than English at home.
Sydney · Council (LGA)
Language in Sydney
The languages spoken in homes across the area, beyond English.
A far greater share of people speak a language other than English in Sydney than across the rest of Australia. Around 34.8% of residents use another language at home, a figure that has climbed steadily over the last decade. This makes the city's linguistic profile much more diverse than most other areas in the country.
Languages at home
English and the largest community languages.
While 58% of people speak only English, Mandarin (8.6%) and Cantonese (2.8%) are common alternatives. About 5.1% of residents speak little or no English, which is among the highest rates for this type of area, though this figure has fallen slightly since 2016.
5.1% ▼ -17.5%
Higher than 89% of council (lga) areas.
- 2016: 6.2%
- 2021: 5.1%
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.
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
More for Sydney
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Language in Sydney [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/lga/LGA17200/sydney/topic/language