Mandarin
19,845 speakers
Mandarin is spoken by 19,845 of our residents at home, 13.4% of Georges River.
We are Georges River
53 per cent.
Nearly 53 in every 100 Georges River residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.
- Our population
- 148,159
- Speak another language
- 78,702
- Languages at home
- 123
- Growth since last census
- +3.7%
Mandarin, Cantonese and Nepali are spoken here in numbers that shape how the place works. 79k of us — 53.1% — speak a language other than English at home, so an English-only notice reaches barely half the households it was addressed to.
In New South Wales
#8
of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #28 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Cantonese
14,650 speakers
Cantonese is spoken by 14,650 of our residents at home, 9.9% of Georges River.
Nepali
8,226 speakers
Nepali is spoken by 8,226 of our residents at home, 5.6% of Georges River.
The languages of Georges River
123 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.
- 0119,845-6.4%
- 0214,6500%
- 038,226+76.5%
- 047,132-1.9%
- 056,212+6.7%
- 063,340+1.1%
- 071,726+10.3%
- 081,534-0.7%
- 091,452-17.8%
- 101,317+9.9%
Fastest-growing among us
Nepali
+76.5% since last census
We share this portrait because Georges River is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 2.1 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 76.5% since the last census, to 8,226 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
44.7% of us were born overseas, across 141 countries.
- 01China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)21,749-9.3%
- 02Nepal8,255+84.6%
- 03Hong Kong (SAR of China)3,649+3.4%
- 04Philippines2,570+24.5%
- 05Greece2,235+1.7%
- 06Lebanon1,978+9.0%
- 07North Macedonia1,884
- 08New Zealand1,880-11.7%
- 09England1,714-8.1%
- 10Indonesia1,678+8.5%
What we believe
Reported affiliation in Georges River at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01Christianity70,328-3.9%
- 02No religion or secular beliefs45,149+11.1%
- 03Hinduism9,540+59.1%
- 04Islam7,655+21.4%
- 05Buddhism7,376+5.5%
- 06Judaism165+1.9%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 19 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- HurstvilleTop language — Mandarin76%23,738
- AllawahTop language — Mandarin68%3,684
- RiverwoodTop language — Mandarin61%7,693
- South HurstvilleTop language — Mandarin59%3,199
- Carlton (NSW)Top language — Mandarin58%6,013
- Beverly HillsTop language — Cantonese57%6,047
- Penshurst (NSW)Top language — Mandarin51%6,221
- Hurstville GroveTop language — Mandarin50%1,263
- Kogarah BayTop language — Greek46%964
- Beverley ParkTop language — Greek45%1,222
- BlakehurstTop language — Greek45%2,975
- Connells PointTop language — Mandarin41%1,174
- MortdaleTop language — Mandarin40%4,275
- Kyle BayTop language — Cantonese40%328
- PeakhurstTop language — Mandarin38%4,540
- Carss ParkTop language — Greek36%453
- OatleyTop language — Mandarin27%2,847
- LugarnoTop language — Greek25%1,469
- Peakhurst HeightsTop language — Greek24%597
- 19 suburbs in Georges River. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
Georges River 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
- Georges River
- 53.1%
- New South Wales
- 25.7%
- Australia
- 21.3%
53.1% of Georges River 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. 53.1% is 78,702 residents as a share of all 148,159 of us. A further 7,081 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 57.9%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 55.8%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Georges River, 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 Georges River 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 Georges River.