We are Greater Geelong

11 per cent.

About 11 in every 100 Greater Geelong residents speak a language other than English at home, across 129 languages.

Our population
265,456
Speak another language
28,139
Languages at home
129
Growth since last census
+29.1%

28k of us — 10.6% — speak a language other than English at home, most often Punjabi, Mandarin and Italian. A share this size is easy to design around by accident, which is precisely how it gets designed out.

In Victoria

#31

of 79 Victoria councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #158 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Punjabi

2,025 speakers

Punjabi is spoken by 2,025 of our residents at home, 0.8% of Greater Geelong.

Mandarin

2,002 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 2,002 of our residents at home, 0.8% of Greater Geelong.

Italian

1,948 speakers

Italian is spoken by 1,948 of our residents at home, 0.7% of Greater Geelong.

The languages of Greater Geelong

129 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 Greater Geelong, covering 18,711 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
    Punjabi
    2,025+164%
  2. 02
    Mandarin
    2,002+16.9%
  3. 03
    Italian
    1,948-13.3%
  4. 04
    Croatian
    1,917-4.1%
  5. 05
    Greek
    1,040+18.7%
  6. 06
    Macedonian
    1,028+3.5%
  7. 07
    Karen
    885+53.9%
  8. 08
    Hindi
    864+85.8%
  9. 09
    Vietnamese
    815+30.8%
  10. 10
    Arabic
    770+27.9%

Fastest-growing among us

Urdu

+221.0% since last census

We share this portrait because a council below the Victoria average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 28k of us do not, at home, and a service that reaches everyone except them has not reached everyone. This almanac exists so that the number is on the record before the decision is made.

Urdu grew 221.0% since the last census, to 658 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

15.4% of us were born overseas, across 132 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    8,555+8.3%
  2. 02
    India
    4,998+124%
  3. 03
    New Zealand
    2,659+20.3%
  4. 04
    Philippines
    1,820+60.9%
  5. 05
    Italy
    1,522-2.4%
  6. 06
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    1,503+3.1%
  7. 07
    Scotland
    1,258+1.0%
  8. 08
    Croatia
    1,196-1.0%
  9. 09
    Netherlands
    1,180-3.4%
  10. 10
    Germany
    1,146-12.0%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    119,451+50.8%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    118,138-4.0%
  3. 03
    Islam
    3,884+59.2%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    3,608+110%
  5. 05
    Buddhism
    2,646+14.6%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    100+133%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 52 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Greater Geelong 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

Greater Geelong
10.6%
Victoria
26.6%
Australia
21.3%

10.6% of Greater Geelong residents speak a language other than English at home, against 26.6% for Victoria 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. 10.6% is 28,139 residents as a share of all 265,456 of us. A further 13,853 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 15.8%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 11.2%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Greater Geelong, 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 Greater Geelong 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 Greater Geelong.