Popular

NAATI certified translationTranslation servicesMulticultural communicationLanguagesLanguage MapContact

Australian Capital Territory

Languages spoken in Canberra

In Canberra, nearly one in four residents speak a language other than English at home, according to the 2021 Census, with Mandarin the largest group. The count runs to 121 languages with ten or more speakers. There's little between Canberra and New South Wales on this measure.

Residents
445,390
Speak another language
103,756
Languages at home
171
Change since 2016
+30.9%

What languages are spoken in Canberra?

Include First Nations languagesShowing multicultural languagesLEXIGO works in multicultural communication. First Nations languages are optional to display and are not counted in the multicultural rankings.

Mandarin

14,358 speakers

About 3.2 per cent of all residents.

Nepali

5,792 speakers

Between the last two censuses it has more than tripled.

Vietnamese

4,907 speakers

That's one in 90 residents.

How does Canberra compare with Australia as a whole?

Nationally, the share is much the same as in Canberra.

Canberra
23.3%
Australia
21.3%
New South Wales
25.7%

Share of residents speaking a language other than English at home, by the same method for every area.

Compare Canberra with every council on the diversity index.

Which languages lead in Canberra, and how have they changed?

Each row is a language and the number who speak it at home, beside its change on 2016. The headline total also includes broad ABS categories such as "Chinese, nfd", which aren't listed here.

  1. 01
    Mandarin
    14,358+16.4%
  2. 02
    Nepali
    5,792+560%
  3. 03
    Vietnamese
    4,907+19.2%
  4. 04
    Punjabi
    4,877+127%
  5. 05
    Hindi
    4,638+29.7%
  6. 06
    Cantonese
    4,095+9.0%
  7. 07
    Spanish
    4,017+29.4%
  8. 08
    Arabic
    3,786+32.1%
  9. 09
    Urdu
    3,555+51.0%
  10. 10
    Telugu
    2,705+79.4%

What does Canberra's language mix look like?

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Canberra, covering 72,242 speakers. Block size follows speaker numbers; colour follows the five-year change. Every figure is also in the table below.
  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Canberra, covering 72,242 speakers. Block size follows speaker numbers; colour follows the five-year change. Every figure is also in the table below.

Which language is growing fastest in Canberra?

Fastest-growing language

Nepali

+559.7% since 2016

Nepali has more than tripled since 2016, the steepest rise of any language that had 150 or more speakers in 2016.

How do Canberra's suburbs compare?

The share runs from more than three in five residents in Taylor to 7.2 per cent of residents in Macarthur.

Every suburb here has a page of its own.

Where were Canberra's residents born?

Among residents born overseas, India leads.

Country of birth

26.2% born overseas, across 157 countries.

  1. 01
    India
    17,141+66.2%
  2. 02
    England
    13,226+3.9%
  3. 03
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    11,998+6.9%
  4. 04
    Nepal
    5,567+696%
  5. 05
    Philippines
    5,042+39.6%
  6. 06
    New Zealand
    4,992+6.8%
  7. 07
    Vietnam
    3,854+20.0%
  8. 08
    United States of America
    3,157+22.6%
  9. 09
    Sri Lanka
    3,127+20.3%
  10. 10
    Pakistan
    2,783+42.1%

Religious affiliation

Reported affiliation, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    200,263+37.2%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    172,905-3.9%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    20,536+105%
  4. 04
    Islam
    14,668+49.1%
  5. 05
    Buddhism
    12,591+27.2%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    689+37.5%

Where is Canberra on the language map?

Darker shading means more residents speaking a multicultural languageany language other than English at home. ABS ASGS 2021 boundaries. Open the national map.

Figures come from the ABS Census of Population and Housing 2021 (language used at home), aggregated from Statistical Area Level 2 to Local Government Area, with 2016 for comparison.

Other sources sometimes quote 27.5% for Canberra. That figure treats the 18,649 unanswered forms as another language. This page uses 23.3%, and 24.3% is the share among those who answered.

National totals here run slightly under ABS published figures, because summing suburbs misses people without a usual address. Broad ABS categories count in the totals but not in the ranked lists.

Reuse these figures under CC BY 4.0 with credit to LEXIGO Language Map.

Need something in one of these languages? Get in touch about translation.