CensusAtlas

Canterbury · State Electorate

Language in Canterbury

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

A huge shift in language has occurred in Canterbury, where the share of people using a language other than English at home rose 33 percentage points since 2011. Now, 58.3% of residents speak a language other than English, a figure far above the national average. This makes the area one of the most linguistically diverse at this level.

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📍 Canterbury, State Electorate

Languages at home

English and the largest community languages.

English is spoken by 35.2% of people at home, while Greek (10%), Mandarin (9.4%), Arabic (7.8%), and Cantonese (4.6%) are also common. This diversity is reflected in the 14.4% of residents who speak little or no English, which is well above the New South Wales figure of 4.5%.

People using another language at home

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58.3% ▲ +129.8%

Higher than 97% of state electorate areas.

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

People who speak little or no English

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14.4% ▼ -0.6%

Higher than 99% of state electorate 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 Canterbury, the largest group is English only at 47%, followed by Greek (13%) and Mandarin (13%).

English only 35.2% Greek 10.0% Mandarin 9.4% Arabic 7.8% Cantonese 4.6% Vietnamese 3.6% Italian 2.2% Tagalog 1.1% Hindi 0.7% Punjabi 0.3%

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 Canterbury [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/sed/SED10015/canterbury/topic/language