We are Ballarat

6 per cent.

6 in every 100 Ballarat residents speak a language other than English at home. 6,648 people, in 104 languages — small enough to be overlooked, large enough to be a community.

Our population
112,100
Speak another language
6,648
Languages at home
104
Growth since last census
+52.9%

Most of us speak English at home. 6,648 of us do not, across 104 languages, most often Mandarin, Punjabi and Malayalam. Small communities are the ones a mainstream service misses first and notices last — which is the whole reason to count them.

In Victoria

#39

of 79 Victoria councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #223 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

902 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 902 of our residents at home, 0.8% of Ballarat.

Punjabi

714 speakers

Punjabi is spoken by 714 of our residents at home, 0.6% of Ballarat.

Malayalam

465 speakers

Malayalam is spoken by 465 of our residents at home, 0.4% of Ballarat.

The languages of Ballarat

104 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 18 most spoken languages in Ballarat, covering 4,751 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
    Mandarin
    902+17.0%
  2. 02
    Punjabi
    714+182%
  3. 03
    Malayalam
    465+106%
  4. 04
    Hindi
    389+95.5%
  5. 05
    Nepali
    217+471%
  6. 06
    Sinhalese
    211+129%
  7. 07
    Urdu
    204+165%
  8. 08
    Filipino
    198+96.0%
  9. 09
    Vietnamese
    177+101%
  10. 10
    Spanish
    176+126%

Fastest-growing among us

Punjabi

+182.2% since last census

We share this portrait because a council below the Victoria average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 6,648 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 182.2% since the last census, to 714 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

9.4% of us were born overseas, across 104 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    2,427+20.1%
  2. 02
    India
    1,815+110%
  3. 03
    New Zealand
    969+31.3%
  4. 04
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    621-10.3%
  5. 05
    Philippines
    591+71.3%
  6. 06
    Netherlands
    404-19.2%
  7. 07
    Scotland
    298-1.0%
  8. 08
    Sri Lanka
    253+242%
  9. 09
    South Africa
    220+44.7%
  10. 10
    Germany
    217+4.8%

What we believe

Reported affiliation in Ballarat at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    54,358+43.0%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    47,571-8.4%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    1,305+122%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    870+18.7%
  5. 05
    Islam
    740+89.7%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    31+158%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 42 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Ballarat 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

Ballarat
5.9%
Victoria
26.6%
Australia
21.3%

5.9% of Ballarat residents speak a language other than English at home, against 26.6% for Victoria 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. 5.9% is 6,648 residents as a share of all 112,100 of us. A further 5,608 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 10.9%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 6.2%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Ballarat, 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 Ballarat 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 Ballarat.