Tongan
11 speakers
Used at home by fewer than one in 100 residents.
East Arnhem, Northern Territory
Languages spoken in East Arnhem
The 2021 Census counted about 4,400 people in East Arnhem speaking a First Nations language at home, with Djambarrpuyngu the most common. Only four languages reach one in 100 residents. Against Australia as a whole, East Arnhem is more than three times as multilingual.
- Residents
- 6,882
- Speak another language
- 6,230
- Languages at home
- 56
- Change since 2016
- −3.5%
Which First Nations languages are spoken in East Arnhem?
The census names Djambarrpuyngu, Dhuwaya and Gumatj as the most spoken First Nations languages. Among residents who speak another language at home, a First Nations language is the choice of 70 per cent of them. Another about 1,800 people gave a language the ABS could only file under a broad category, so the named figures here are a floor.
- 013,747-9.8%
- 02150-54.1%
- 0383-1.2%
- 0480-39.4%
- 0555-6.8%
- 0626-53.6%
- 0725-24.2%
- 0822+37.5%
- 0920-66.7%
- 1015
The ABS’s own post-enumeration survey found the census missed a much larger share of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than of the population overall, so counts here are best read as a floor.
How does East Arnhem's language picture differ from the Northern Territory?
Measured against the Northern Territory, East Arnhem's share is about two and a half times as high. 2 councils in the Northern Territory have a lower share.
- East Arnhem
- 90.5%
- Northern Territory
- 32.1%
- Australia
- 21.3%
Shares are calculated the same way for each area, so the bars compare directly.
Which languages have the most speakers in East Arnhem, First Nations included?
Ranked by speakers, with the movement since the previous census. Unnamed ABS categories ("Chinese, nfd" and the like) are left off the list but kept in the totals.
- 013,747-9.8%
- 02150-54.1%
- 0383-1.2%
- 0480-39.4%
- 0555-6.8%
- 0626-53.6%
- 0725-24.2%
- 0822+37.5%
- 0920-66.7%
- 1015
What languages from overseas are spoken in East Arnhem?
These lead among languages from overseas.
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.
Which localities in East Arnhem have the most speakers of other languages?
Across only 7 suburbs, the shares are fairly even, with East Arnhem highest.
Each suburb links to its own page, with the languages spoken there.
- East ArnhemLed by Djambarrpuyngu92%1,144
- MilingimbiLed by Djambarrpuyngu92%1,010
- GaliwinkuLed by Djambarrpuyngu91%1,986
- GapuwiyakLed by Djambarrpuyngu91%627
- RaminginingLed by Djambarrpuyngu90%731
- GunyangaraLed by Gumatj88%205
- YirrkalaLed by Dhuwaya83%527
- The larger figure is each suburb's share speaking a language other than English; the smaller is people. 7 suburbs listed.
Where does East Arnhem sit on the map of Australia's languages?
Shade reflects the share speaking a multicultural languageany language other than English at home; council boundaries are from the ABS ASGS 2021. Explore the full Language Map.
ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021: language used at home, by Statistical Area Level 2, rolled up to Local Government Area. Change is measured from 2016.
How the headline share is counted: 90.5% is residents who named a language other than English, as a share of everyone. Another 251 didn't answer the question. Counting them as speaking another language would give 94.2%; leaving them out of the population altogether gives 94.0%. Higher figures quoted elsewhere usually come from one of those.
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.