We are Cumberland

65 per cent.

Nearly 65 in every 100 Cumberland residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.

Our population
236,276
Speak another language
152,747
Languages at home
145
Growth since last census
+10.0%

Our neighbourhoods run in Arabic, Mandarin and Nepali as readily as they do in English. 153k 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

#3

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #18 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Arabic

33,343 speakers

Arabic is spoken by 33,343 of our residents at home, 14.1% of Cumberland.

Mandarin

16,758 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 16,758 of our residents at home, 7.1% of Cumberland.

Nepali

11,144 speakers

Nepali is spoken by 11,144 of our residents at home, 4.7% of Cumberland.

The languages of Cumberland

145 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 Cumberland, covering 128,759 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
    Arabic
    33,343+1.3%
  2. 02
    Mandarin
    16,758+21.7%
  3. 03
    Nepali
    11,144+108%
  4. 04
    Cantonese
    9,656-3.4%
  5. 05
    Tamil
    7,219+12.6%
  6. 06
    Turkish
    6,6340%
  7. 07
    Urdu
    6,187+30.1%
  8. 08
    Korean
    5,824+13.3%
  9. 09
    Hindi
    5,120+6.5%
  10. 10
    Hazaraghi
    3,978+20.1%

Fastest-growing among us

Nepali

+108.2% since last census

We share this portrait because Cumberland is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.5 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 108.2% since the last census, to 11,144 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

52.2% of us were born overseas, across 156 countries.

  1. 01
    India
    18,218+32.6%
  2. 02
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    16,426+15.5%
  3. 03
    Lebanon
    11,253+6.2%
  4. 04
    Nepal
    10,935+119%
  5. 05
    Afghanistan
    6,292+1.9%
  6. 06
    Vietnam
    4,978+5.5%
  7. 07
    Korea, Republic of (South)
    4,903+12.4%
  8. 08
    Pakistan
    4,898+3.8%
  9. 09
    Philippines
    4,496+11.5%
  10. 10
    Sri Lanka
    4,269-10.1%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    83,569-4.1%
  2. 02
    Islam
    53,793+13.6%
  3. 03
    No religion or secular beliefs
    36,823+20.2%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    30,478+43.1%
  5. 05
    Buddhism
    10,041+7.0%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    16-36.0%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 20 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Cumberland 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

Cumberland
64.6%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

64.6% of Cumberland 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. 64.6% is 152,747 residents as a share of all 236,276 of us. A further 19,683 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 73.0%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 70.5%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Cumberland, 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 Cumberland 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 Cumberland.