We are Burwood

56 per cent.

Nearly 56 in every 100 Burwood residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.

Our population
43,728
Speak another language
24,695
Languages at home
94
Growth since last census
+4.4%

Our neighbourhoods run in Mandarin, Cantonese and Italian as readily as they do in English. 25k 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 New South Wales

#5

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #24 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

8,289 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 8,289 of our residents at home, 19.0% of Burwood.

Cantonese

3,366 speakers

Cantonese is spoken by 3,366 of our residents at home, 7.7% of Burwood.

Italian

1,793 speakers

Italian is spoken by 1,793 of our residents at home, 4.1% of Burwood.

The languages of Burwood

94 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 Burwood, covering 22,586 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
    8,289+7.1%
  2. 02
    Cantonese
    3,366+2.4%
  3. 03
    Italian
    1,793-16.9%
  4. 04
    Arabic
    1,6830%
  5. 05
    Nepali
    1,595+137%
  6. 06
    Greek
    1,031-12.0%
  7. 07
    Vietnamese
    934+31.0%
  8. 08
    Korean
    913-26.7%
  9. 09
    Spanish
    595+22.7%
  10. 10
    Thai
    362+41.4%

Fastest-growing among us

Nepali

+137.4% since last census

We share this portrait because Burwood is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.2 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.

Nepali grew 137.4% since the last census, to 1,595 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

50.5% of us were born overseas, across 100 countries.

  1. 01
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    7,613-3.4%
  2. 02
    Nepal
    1,646+146%
  3. 03
    Italy
    1,166-11.9%
  4. 04
    Vietnam
    1,064+26.2%
  5. 05
    India
    967-8.9%
  6. 06
    Hong Kong (SAR of China)
    849+9.0%
  7. 07
    Korea, Republic of (South)
    800-24.6%
  8. 08
    Lebanon
    7540%
  9. 09
    Malaysia
    746+137%
  10. 10
    Philippines
    666+34.0%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    18,873-4.2%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    15,894+16.2%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    3,071+21.5%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    2,559+47.7%
  5. 05
    Islam
    824+23.5%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    24+243%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 5 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Burwood 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

Burwood
56.5%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

56.5% of Burwood 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. 56.5% is 24,695 residents as a share of all 43,728 of us. A further 2,280 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 61.7%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 59.6%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Burwood, 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 Burwood 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 Burwood.