We are Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara

84 per cent.

Nearly 84 in every 100 Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in South Australia.

Our population
2,298
Speak another language
1,937
Languages at home
13
Growth since last census
+14.7%

Our neighbourhoods run in Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and Warlpiri as readily as they do in English. 1,937 of us speak a language other than English at home — a higher share than almost anywhere else in the country, and the ordinary condition of daily life here rather than an exception to it.

In South Australia

#1

for share of residents speaking a language other than English at home, of 70 South Australia councils — a ranking Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara has held through successive censuses. #4 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Pitjantjatjara

1,597 speakers

Pitjantjatjara is spoken by 1,597 of our residents at home, 69.5% of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara.

Yankunytjatjara

248 speakers

Yankunytjatjara is spoken by 248 of our residents at home, 10.8% of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara.

Warlpiri

22 speakers

Warlpiri is spoken by 22 of our residents at home, 1.0% of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara.

The languages of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara

13 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
The 11 most spoken languages in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, covering 1,911 speakers. Area is speakers at the 2021 Census; tint is the change since 2016. Every figure is also in the table below.

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.

  1. 01
    Pitjantjatjara
    1,597+8.4%
  2. 02
    Yankunytjatjara
    248+282%
  3. 03
    Warlpiri
    22+100%
  4. 04
    Ngaanyatjarra
    14
  5. 05
    Luritja
    8
  6. 06
    Eastern Arrernte
    6
  7. 07
    Shona
    4
  8. 08
    Ndebele
    3
  9. 09
    Mandarin
    3
  10. 10
    Non-verbal, so described
    3

Fastest-growing among us

Pitjantjatjara

+8.4% since last census

We share this portrait because Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 5.0 times the South Australia figure. Services designed for the median South Australia resident arrive here in the wrong language. This almanac exists so that nobody writing policy about us — federal, state, corporate or media — can say they did not know.

Pitjantjatjara grew 8.4% since the last census, to 1,597 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

1.6% of us were born overseas, across 9 countries.

  1. 01
    New Zealand
    10-58.3%
  2. 02
    Zimbabwe
    9
  3. 03
    England
    7+75.0%
  4. 04
    United States of America
    3
  5. 05
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    3
  6. 06
    Papua New Guinea
    3
  7. 07
    Philippines
    3
  8. 08
    Croatia
    0-100%
  9. 09
    South Africa
    0-100%

What we believe

Reported affiliation in Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    Christianity
    978-11.4%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    682+9.5%
  3. 03
    Islam
    3-72.7%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    0-100%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 9 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara 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

Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara
84.3%
South Australia
16.9%
Australia
21.3%

84.3% of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara residents speak a language other than English at home, against 16.9% for South Australia 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. 84.3% is 1,937 residents as a share of all 2,298 of us. A further 110 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 89.1%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 88.5%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara, 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 Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara 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 Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara.