We are Bayside (NSW)

51 per cent.

Nearly 51 in every 100 Bayside (NSW) residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.

Our population
173,328
Speak another language
88,077
Languages at home
133
Growth since last census
+10.3%

Mandarin, Greek and Arabic are spoken here in numbers that shape how the place works. 88k of us — 50.8% — speak a language other than English at home, so an English-only notice reaches barely half the households it was addressed to.

In New South Wales

#9

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #32 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

12,027 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 12,027 of our residents at home, 6.9% of Bayside (NSW).

Greek

10,303 speakers

Greek is spoken by 10,303 of our residents at home, 5.9% of Bayside (NSW).

Arabic

9,333 speakers

Arabic is spoken by 9,333 of our residents at home, 5.4% of Bayside (NSW).

The languages of Bayside (NSW)

133 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 Bayside (NSW), covering 75,585 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
    12,027+13.1%
  2. 02
    Greek
    10,303-3.9%
  3. 03
    Arabic
    9,333+4.5%
  4. 04
    Cantonese
    6,263+11.1%
  5. 05
    Nepali
    5,219+18.1%
  6. 06
    Spanish
    5,020+35.7%
  7. 07
    Macedonian
    4,369-4.0%
  8. 08
    Indonesian
    3,806+36.2%
  9. 09
    Portuguese
    3,107+62.5%
  10. 10
    Bengali
    3,009-20.9%

Fastest-growing among us

Mongolian

+138.3% since last census

We share this portrait because Bayside (NSW) is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.0 times the New South Wales figure. Services designed for the median New South Wales 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.

Mongolian grew 138.3% since the last census, to 1,666 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

46.6% of us were born overseas, across 153 countries.

  1. 01
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    11,694+4.6%
  2. 02
    Nepal
    5,158+23.2%
  3. 03
    Indonesia
    4,326+56.5%
  4. 04
    Greece
    3,819+3.7%
  5. 05
    Philippines
    3,735+16.2%
  6. 06
    India
    3,312+15.3%
  7. 07
    Lebanon
    3,181+14.5%
  8. 08
    England
    2,984+22.2%
  9. 09
    North Macedonia
    2,827
  10. 10
    New Zealand
    2,5410%

What we believe

Reported affiliation in Bayside (NSW) at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    Christianity
    83,219+3.6%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    46,158+42.3%
  3. 03
    Islam
    15,000+13.0%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    8,602+20.8%
  5. 05
    Buddhism
    7,763+24.4%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    1,202+41.9%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 26 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Bayside (NSW) 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

Bayside (NSW)
50.8%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

50.8% of Bayside (NSW) residents speak a language other than English at home, against 25.7% for New South Wales 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. 50.8% is 88,077 residents as a share of all 173,328 of us. A further 11,249 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 57.3%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 54.3%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Bayside (NSW), 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 Bayside (NSW) 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 Bayside (NSW).