Punjabi
421 speakers
Punjabi is spoken by 421 of our residents at home, 1.7% of Alice Springs.
We are Alice Springs
23 per cent.
Nearly 23 in every 100 Alice Springs residents speak a language other than English at home. It is one of the shares that shapes Northern Territory.
- Our population
- 25,399
- Speak another language
- 5,788
- Languages at home
- 105
- Growth since last census
- +40.6%
One in 4 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 5,788 people, most often Punjabi, Malayalam and Tagalog. That is not a fringe of the community. It is a standing share of every audience anyone here is trying to reach.
In Northern Territory
#13
of 18 Northern Territory councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #89 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Malayalam
414 speakers
Malayalam is spoken by 414 of our residents at home, 1.6% of Alice Springs.
Tagalog
284 speakers
Tagalog is spoken by 284 of our residents at home, 1.1% of Alice Springs.
The languages of Alice Springs
105 languages carry the conversation at home. Every one of them is spoken here.
Each block below is scaled to the number of people who speak that language at home, and tinted by how fast that community has grown since the last census.
- Grew 50%+
- 25%+
- 10%+
- Held
- Slipped
- Declined 10%+
- Not comparable
Every language, in order
Speakers at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016. Broader ABS categories such as “Chinese, nfd” are counted in our totals but left out of this list, so the percentages can exceed the sum of the languages shown.
- 01421+173%
- 02414-2.6%
- 03284+32.1%
- 04282+88.0%
- 05269+65.0%
- 06241+249%
- 07223+278%
- 08190+52.0%
- 09177+9.3%
- 10174-6.5%
Fastest-growing among us
Punjabi
+173.4% since last census
We share this portrait because a council below the Northern Territory average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 5,788 of us do not, at home, and a service that reaches everyone except them has not reached everyone. This almanac exists so that the number is on the record before the decision is made.
Punjabi grew 173.4% since the last census, to 421 speakers. A community growing at that rate is one whose translation needs are ahead of the last set of figures anyone commissioned.
Who we are, beyond language
Where we were born
24.0% of us were born overseas, across 84 countries.
- 01India952+46.0%
- 02New Zealand863-1.0%
- 03United States of America689+3.9%
- 04England594-10.0%
- 05Philippines572+24.1%
- 06Nepal231+279%
- 07China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)175+157%
- 08South Africa169+28.0%
- 09Zimbabwe167-6.7%
- 10Sri Lanka136+54.5%
What we believe
Reported affiliation in Alice Springs at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01No religion or secular beliefs11,118+36.4%
- 02Christianity10,607-6.8%
- 03Hinduism631+72.9%
- 04Buddhism371-10.6%
- 05Islam243+35.8%
- 06Judaism32+129%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 19 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- Flynn (NT)Top language — Western Arrarnta73%82
- Undoolya69%9
- ArumberaTop language — Pitjantjatjara55%174
- Stuart (NT)Top language — Warlpiri40%95
- The Gap (NT)Top language — Malayalam35%675
- Alice SpringsTop language — Luritja33%85
- KilgariffTop language — Afrikaans32%113
- SadadeenTop language — Punjabi31%702
- CicconeTop language — Western Arrarnta27%100
- GillenTop language — Malayalam25%1,112
- Larapinta (NT)Top language — Malayalam24%567
- Araluen (NT)Top language — Malayalam22%562
- Mount JohnsTop language — Hindi17%89
- Desert SpringsTop language — Hindi16%240
- IlparpaTop language — Western Arrarnta15%111
- BraitlingTop language — Tagalog15%487
- East SideTop language — Nepali15%444
- Ross (NT)Top language — Sinhalese14%128
- ConnellanTop language — Mandarin4%13
- 19 suburbs in Alice Springs. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
Alice Springs shaded by the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. Boundaries are ABS ASGS 2021. See every council on one map.
In context
- Alice Springs
- 22.8%
- Northern Territory
- 32.1%
- Australia
- 21.3%
22.8% of Alice Springs residents speak a language other than English at home, against 32.1% for Northern Territory and 21.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 Census.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2021, language used at home by Statistical Area Level 2, aggregated to Local Government Area. Growth compares 2021 against the 2016 Census.
How the headline share is counted. 22.8% is 5,788 residents as a share of all 25,399 of us. A further 1,941 did not state a language at all, and we do not count them as speaking one — counting every non-response as a non-English speaker would put this figure at 30.4%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 24.7%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Alice Springs, it is almost certainly one of those two.
Two further caveats we would rather state than bury. Summing suburbs omits residents not allocated to one — no usual address, migratory and unincorporated areas — so national totals sit a little under the ABS published figures; the Alice Springs figures on this page are unaffected. And ranked language lists exclude ABS residual categories such as “Chinese, nfd”, which are not languages anyone can order a translation in; they remain inside the headline total.
Need this community reached in its own languages? Talk to us about translation in Alice Springs.