Popular

NAATI certified translationTranslation servicesMulticultural communicationLanguagesLanguage MapContact

Darwin, Northern Territory

Languages spoken in Darwin

Greek, Nepali and Mandarin are the main languages after English in Darwin, where the 2021 Census counted 29 per cent of residents speaking one at home. Nepali runs a close second. Nationally, the share speaking another language is lower than in Darwin.

Residents
79,786
Speak another language
23,455
Languages at home
153
Change since 2016
+19.4%

Which three languages are most common in Darwin?

Include First Nations languagesShowing multicultural languagesLEXIGO works in multicultural communication. First Nations languages are optional to display and are not counted in the multicultural rankings.

Greek

2,658 speakers

Spoken at home by 3.3 per cent of residents.

Nepali

2,434 speakers

It has more than doubled since 2016.

Mandarin

1,758 speakers

Used at home by one in 45 residents.

Where does Darwin land against the Northern Territory?

Across the Northern Territory, the share is much the same as in Darwin. Darwin ranks first in the Northern Territory.

Darwin
29.4%
Northern Territory
32.1%
Australia
21.3%

Same method throughout, so the gap between the bars is the real gap.

Darwin's place on the diversity index.

How does Darwin's language list break down?

Speakers at home, with the change since 2016. Broad ABS categories such as "Chinese, nfd" count towards the totals but aren't listed, so the shares can add up to more than the languages shown.

  1. 01
    Greek
    2,658-4.5%
  2. 02
    Nepali
    2,434+166%
  3. 03
    Mandarin
    1,758+11.2%
  4. 04
    Tagalog
    1,663-4.5%
  5. 05
    Filipino
    1,108-3.9%
  6. 06
    Malayalam
    915+25.5%
  7. 07
    Indonesian
    901+11.1%
  8. 08
    Vietnamese
    875+67.0%
  9. 09
    Punjabi
    827+140%
  10. 10
    Sinhalese
    707+112%

How big is each language community in Darwin?

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Darwin, covering 17,834 speakers. Area is speakers at home; tint is the change since 2016. Every figure is also in the table below.
  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Darwin, covering 17,834 speakers. Area is speakers at home; tint is the change since 2016. Every figure is also in the table below.

Which community in Darwin grew most since 2016?

Fastest-growing language

Nepali

+166.0% since 2016

It started from at least 150 speakers in 2016, so the rise isn't a small-number effect.

How do Darwin's suburbs compare?

Wagaman tops the list, but the spread across 36 suburbs is narrow.

Suburb pages list every language counted in that suburb.

What do birthplace and religion say about Darwin?

The largest group born overseas comes from the Philippines.

Country of birth

32.2% born overseas, across 123 countries.

  1. 01
    Philippines
    3,385+1.5%
  2. 02
    India
    3,026+45.3%
  3. 03
    Nepal
    2,324+170%
  4. 04
    England
    2,262-15.2%
  5. 05
    New Zealand
    1,364-15.2%
  6. 06
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    1,176+25.1%
  7. 07
    Indonesia
    965+22.6%
  8. 08
    Greece
    942-17.9%
  9. 09
    Sri Lanka
    854+62.0%
  10. 10
    Timor-Leste
    845-4.1%

Religious affiliation

Reported affiliation, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    31,934+27.1%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    30,662-14.3%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    4,257+77.2%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    2,984+13.1%
  5. 05
    Islam
    2,233+44.5%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    34+21.4%

How does Darwin look on the map?

Darwin on the Language Map, shaded for residents who speak a multicultural languageany language other than English at home (ABS ASGS 2021 boundaries). View all councils.

Data: ABS Census of Population and Housing 2021, language used at home, summed from Statistical Area Level 2 to council. Changes are against the 2016 Census.

A note on method: 6,987 residents didn't state a language, and this page doesn't count them as speaking one. That's why 29.4% sits below the 38.2% you'd get by counting every blank, and below 32.2% measured across respondents only.

Two caveats: summing suburbs leaves out residents with no usual address, so national totals land a little under ABS published figures, and ranked lists leave out broad ABS categories that don't name a language.

Reuse these figures under CC BY 4.0 with credit to LEXIGO Language Map.

Planning material for residents here? Start a conversation about translation.