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61st of 542 local government areas for language diversity

Inner West's languages, old and new

Greek and Italian still rank among the main languages of Inner West, where the 2021 Census counted about 42,000 people speaking a language other than English at home. Greek is close behind, within a fifth of the leader's total. Inner West is roughly level with New South Wales.

Residents
177,309
Speak another language
42,139
Languages at home
136
Change since 2016
−9.6%

What are Inner West's three main languages after English?

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.

Mandarin

5,554 speakers

That's one in 30 residents.

Greek

4,721 speakers

Used at home by one in 40 residents.

Italian

3,715 speakers

About 2.1 per cent of all residents.

How have Greek and Italian changed in Inner West since 2016?

Greek and Italian have fewer speakers than in 2016. Go back to 2011 and Greek was larger than today. The quickest growth is in Tamil, which has grown.

  1. 01
    Greek
    4,721-9.0%
  2. 02
    Italian
    3,715-21.1%
  3. 03
    German
    753+8.5%
  4. 04
    Macedonian
    435+0.9%
  5. 05
    Croatian
    365+14.8%
  6. 06
    Serbian
    342-13.6%

Which languages are growing and which are shrinking in Inner West?

The chip beside each count is the change since 2016. Totals include broad ABS categories like "Chinese, nfd" that the list leaves out.

  1. 01
    Mandarin
    5,554-9.2%
  2. 02
    Greek
    4,721-9.0%
  3. 03
    Italian
    3,715-21.1%
  4. 04
    Vietnamese
    3,529-3.0%
  5. 05
    Cantonese
    3,141-3.4%
  6. 06
    Spanish
    2,691+1.2%
  7. 07
    Arabic
    1,958-11.7%
  8. 08
    Portuguese
    1,889-4.3%
  9. 09
    Nepali
    1,829-21.7%
  10. 10
    Thai
    1,163-19.1%

How do Inner West's languages compare in size?

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Inner West, covering 35,659 speakers. Each block is sized by speakers and shaded by growth 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 Inner West, covering 35,659 speakers. Each block is sized by speakers and shaded by growth since 2016. Every figure is also in the table below.

Where does Inner West sit on the diversity index?

Nationally

#61

Inner West ranks 61st of 542 local government areas nationally. In New South Wales, it’s 22 of 128. Compare Inner West with every council on the diversity index.

Where does Inner West stand against the City of Sydney?

The City of Sydney sits a little above Inner West. Inner West is 22nd among New South Wales councils.

Inner West
23.8%
City of Sydney
33.9%
New South Wales
25.7%

Every figure leaves unanswered questions out of the count, so the areas compare like for like.

Compare Inner West with every council on the diversity index.

How does the mix change across Inner West's suburbs?

Ashfield is highest, at nearly one in two residents; Birchgrove is lowest.

Open any suburb for its own language breakdown.

What do religion and birthplace show in Inner West?

England is the most common overseas birthplace.

Country of birth

30.5% born overseas, across 138 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    8,454+3.7%
  2. 02
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    5,125-13.5%
  3. 03
    New Zealand
    3,895-6.2%
  4. 04
    Vietnam
    3,052-1.8%
  5. 05
    Italy
    2,510-13.9%
  6. 06
    Greece
    2,274-11.8%
  7. 07
    Philippines
    1,927-0.8%
  8. 08
    Nepal
    1,861-17.0%
  9. 09
    India
    1,802-17.7%
  10. 10
    United States of America
    1,793+23.3%

Religious affiliation

Reported affiliation, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    92,924+23.4%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    62,904-10.6%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    5,884-7.6%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    3,609-15.6%
  5. 05
    Islam
    2,4420%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    868+31.1%

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.

Other sources sometimes quote 28.3% for Inner West. That figure treats the 8,125 unanswered forms as another language. This page uses 23.8%, and 24.9% is the share among those who answered.

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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