Malay
317 speakers
Malay is spoken by 317 of our residents at home, 18.9% of Christmas Island.
We are Christmas Island
44 per cent.
Nearly 44 in every 100 Christmas Island residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Other Territories.
- Our population
- 1,673
- Speak another language
- 739
- Languages at home
- 22
- Growth since last census
- −8.8%
Malay, Mandarin and Cantonese are spoken here in numbers that shape how the place works. 739 of us — 44.2% — speak a language other than English at home, so an English-only notice reaches barely half the households it was addressed to.
In Other Territories
#2
of 3 Other Territories councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #42 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Mandarin
234 speakers
Mandarin is spoken by 234 of our residents at home, 14.0% of Christmas Island.
Cantonese
58 speakers
Cantonese is spoken by 58 of our residents at home, 3.5% of Christmas Island.
The languages of Christmas Island
22 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
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.
Fastest-growing among us
Malay
+2.6% since last census
We share this portrait because Christmas Island is, genuinely, not an “average” council. Services designed for the median Other Territories 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.
Malay grew 2.6% since the last census, to 317 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
40.7% of us were born overseas, across 37 countries.
- 01Malaysia316-12.5%
- 02Singapore36-5.3%
- 03New Zealand27-48.1%
- 04Philippines27+3.8%
- 05Sudan27+68.8%
- 06England26-50.0%
- 07India21+110%
- 08Indonesia17-15.0%
- 09Thailand15-28.6%
- 10Tonga13+225%
What we believe
Reported affiliation in Christmas Island at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01Islam381+8.2%
- 02No religion or secular beliefs332+19.9%
- 03Buddhism265-20.2%
- 04Christianity247-29.2%
- 05Hinduism8+167%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 1 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- Christmas IslandTop language — Malay44%739
- 1 suburbs in Christmas Island. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
Christmas Island 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
- Christmas Island
- 44.2%
- Other Territories
- 40.0%
- Australia
- 21.3%
44.2% of Christmas Island residents speak a language other than English at home, against 40.0% for Other Territories 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. 44.2% is 739 residents as a share of all 1,673 of us. A further 449 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 71.0%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 60.4%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Christmas Island, 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 Christmas Island 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 Christmas Island.