We are Bayswater

26 per cent.

Nearly 26 in every 100 Bayswater residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Western Australia.

Our population
67,308
Speak another language
17,463
Languages at home
121
Growth since last census
+1.3%

One in 4 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 17k people, most often Vietnamese, Mandarin and Italian. That is not a fringe of the community. It is a standing share of every audience anyone here is trying to reach.

In Western Australia

#8

of 137 Western Australia councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #80 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Vietnamese

2,471 speakers

Vietnamese is spoken by 2,471 of our residents at home, 3.7% of Bayswater.

Mandarin

1,841 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 1,841 of our residents at home, 2.7% of Bayswater.

Italian

1,716 speakers

Italian is spoken by 1,716 of our residents at home, 2.5% of Bayswater.

The languages of Bayswater

121 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 Bayswater, covering 12,600 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
    Vietnamese
    2,471+9.1%
  2. 02
    Mandarin
    1,841+6.1%
  3. 03
    Italian
    1,716-16.4%
  4. 04
    Cantonese
    1,296-2.3%
  5. 05
    Arabic
    553+12.6%
  6. 06
    Serbian
    539+21.9%
  7. 07
    Punjabi
    483+2.5%
  8. 08
    Hindi
    458-16.1%
  9. 09
    Spanish
    456+35.3%
  10. 10
    French
    371+27.9%

Fastest-growing among us

Nepali

+87.2% since last census

We share this portrait because Bayswater is, genuinely, not an “average” council. Services designed for the median Western 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.

Nepali grew 87.2% since the last census, to 322 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

35.6% of us were born overseas, across 135 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    3,398+1.3%
  2. 02
    India
    2,311-8.1%
  3. 03
    Vietnam
    1,938+7.4%
  4. 04
    New Zealand
    1,468-15.7%
  5. 05
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    1,274+2.7%
  6. 06
    Italy
    1,243-10.6%
  7. 07
    Malaysia
    1,098+11.6%
  8. 08
    Philippines
    858-0.9%
  9. 09
    South Africa
    746+11.3%
  10. 10
    Ireland
    657-15.8%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    29,393-8.2%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    27,217+36.3%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    2,679+9.8%
  4. 04
    Islam
    2,214+15.3%
  5. 05
    Hinduism
    1,675+4.7%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    467-5.7%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 6 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Bayswater 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

Bayswater
25.9%
Western Australia
17.3%
Australia
21.3%

25.9% of Bayswater residents speak a language other than English at home, against 17.3% for Western 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. 25.9% is 17,463 residents as a share of all 67,308 of us. A further 3,062 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 30.5%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 27.2%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Bayswater, 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 Bayswater 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 Bayswater.