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Very Remote Australia · Remoteness Area

Language in Very Remote Australia

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

A far higher proportion of people speak a language other than English in Very Remote Australia than across the country. Roughly 43.1% of residents use another language at home, which is 21 percentage points above the national figure. This creates a linguistic landscape where less than 40% of people speak only English.

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📍 Very Remote Australia, Remoteness Area

Languages at home

English and the largest community languages.

While English is the main language for 39.1% of residents, others include Mandarin (5.4%) and Cantonese (1.4%). About 8% of people speak little or no English, a figure well above the national average, though this fell from 10.4% in 2016.

People using another language at home

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43.1% ▼ -2.1%

Higher than 99% of remoteness area areas.

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

People who speak little or no English

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8.0% ▼ -23.5%

Higher than 99% of remoteness area 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 Very Remote Australia, English only is the majority at 83%; Mandarin is next at 12%.

English only 39.1% Mandarin 5.4% Cantonese 1.4% Tagalog 0.6% Greek 0.1% Hindi 0.1% Vietnamese 0.1% Punjabi 0.1%

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 Very Remote Australia [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/ra/RA94/very-remote-australia/topic/language