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1st of 542 local government areas for language diversity

Languages spoken in Fairfield

The 2021 Census found about 142,000 people in Fairfield speaking a language other than English at home, spread across 88 languages of ten or more speakers and with no clear leader. Fairfield tops the national diversity index. It's concentrated most in Cabramatta.

Residents
205,200
Speak another language
142,477
Languages at home
125
Change since 2016
+3.4%

How evenly spread are Fairfield's languages?

The biggest single language, Vietnamese, is spoken by about 44,000 people. The five largest languages together cover 46 per cent of residents. 12 languages clear the one-in-100 mark on their own.

What are Fairfield's biggest languages, in order?

Each row is a language and the number who speak it at home, beside its change on 2016. The headline total also includes broad ABS categories such as "Chinese, nfd", which aren't listed here.

  1. 01
    Vietnamese
    43,564+8.5%
  2. 02
    Arabic
    19,176+24.6%
  3. 03
    Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
    16,282+21.6%
  4. 04
    Chaldean Neo-Aramaic
    8,442+28.9%
  5. 05
    Cantonese
    7,599-9.9%
  6. 06
    Khmer
    6,952-2.3%
  7. 07
    Spanish
    4,800-21.8%
  8. 08
    Mandarin
    4,723-7.2%
  9. 09
    Italian
    3,889-23.2%
  10. 10
    Serbian
    3,364-8.8%

How do Fairfield's languages compare in size?

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Fairfield, covering 130,865 speakers. The larger the block, the more speakers; the shade marks growth or decline. Every figure is also in the table below.
  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Fairfield, covering 130,865 speakers. The larger the block, the more speakers; the shade marks growth or decline. Every figure is also in the table below.

How does Fairfield rank against every other council?

Nationally

#1

Fairfield ranks first of 542 local government areas nationally. In New South Wales, it’s 1 of 128. Find Fairfield on the diversity index.

Does every suburb of Fairfield have the same mix?

Cabramatta is highest, at four in five residents; Horsley Park is lowest.

The suburb names link through to their own figures.

What else does the census say about Fairfield?

Birthplace follows language: about 113,000 people were born outside Australia.

Country of birth

54.8% born overseas, across 141 countries.

  1. 01
    Vietnam
    33,761+10.8%
  2. 02
    Iraq
    24,975+32.8%
  3. 03
    Cambodia
    7,459+1.6%
  4. 04
    Syria
    5,774+145%
  5. 05
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    3,737-5.8%
  6. 06
    Italy
    2,970-14.3%
  7. 07
    Lebanon
    2,628+13.5%
  8. 08
    Philippines
    2,266-2.7%
  9. 09
    New Zealand
    2,142-20.5%
  10. 10
    Laos
    1,731-8.6%

Religious affiliation

Reported affiliation, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    Christianity
    104,435+2.1%
  2. 02
    Buddhism
    41,253+1.1%
  3. 03
    No religion or secular beliefs
    30,610+21.7%
  4. 04
    Islam
    12,830+12.1%
  5. 05
    Hinduism
    1,208-13.8%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    29+123%

How much more multilingual is Fairfield than Australia as a whole?

Measured against Australia as a whole, Fairfield's share is more than three times as high. Fairfield's share is the highest of the 128 councils in New South Wales.

Fairfield
69.4%
Australia
21.3%
City of Sydney
33.9%

Share of residents speaking a language other than English at home, by the same method for every area.

Find Fairfield on the diversity index.

How does Fairfield look on the map?

The shading shows how many residents speak a multicultural languageany language other than English at home, on ABS ASGS 2021 boundaries. Compare Fairfield with its neighbours on the full map.

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.

69.4% is the share of all residents who reported a language other than English. The 14,233 who didn't answer aren't counted as speakers. If they were, the share would be 76.4%; among respondents alone it's 74.6%.

Language lists name languages only; residual ABS groups are in the totals. Summed-suburb national totals run a little low.

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

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