Kriol
570 speakers
Kriol is spoken by 570 of our residents at home, 6.0% of Katherine.
We are Katherine
17 per cent.
About 17 in every 100 Katherine residents speak a language other than English at home, across 63 languages.
- Our population
- 9,490
- Speak another language
- 1,620
- Languages at home
- 63
- Growth since last census
- +26.5%
1,620 of us — 17.1% — speak a language other than English at home, most often Kriol, Nepali and Tagalog. A share this size is easy to design around by accident, which is precisely how it gets designed out.
In Northern Territory
#14
of 18 Northern Territory councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #118 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Nepali
151 speakers
Nepali is spoken by 151 of our residents at home, 1.6% of Katherine.
Tagalog
123 speakers
Tagalog is spoken by 123 of our residents at home, 1.3% of Katherine.
The languages of Katherine
63 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.
Fastest-growing among us
Kriol
+25.0% since last census
We share this portrait because a council below the Northern Territory average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 1,620 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.
Kriol grew 25.0% since the last census, to 570 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
13.5% of us were born overseas, across 50 countries.
- 01Philippines240+13.2%
- 02Nepal153+446%
- 03New Zealand149-10.8%
- 04England128-27.3%
- 05India116+23.4%
- 06Vanuatu50
- 07South Africa41+242%
- 08Sri Lanka35+84.2%
- 09Germany33+65.0%
- 10Fiji26+85.7%
What we believe
Reported affiliation in Katherine at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01No religion or secular beliefs4,102+31.7%
- 02Christianity3,459-14.8%
- 03Hinduism214+185%
- 04Buddhism97+29.3%
- 05Islam64+77.8%
- 06Judaism10+233%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 10 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- BinjariTop language — Kriol78%188
- KatherineTop language — Kriol24%328
- Katherine EastTop language — Kriol19%566
- Katherine SouthTop language — Kriol17%239
- Cossack (NT)Top language — Kriol14%178
- Lansdowne (NT)Top language — Kriol11%54
- Edith (NT)Top language — Bislama10%50
- Uralla (NT)Top language — Afrikaans3%6
- TindalTop language — Afrikaans1%11
- Emungalan0%0
- 10 suburbs in Katherine. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
Katherine 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
- Katherine
- 17.1%
- Northern Territory
- 32.1%
- Australia
- 21.3%
17.1% of Katherine residents speak a language other than English at home, against 32.1% for Northern Territory 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. 17.1% is 1,620 residents as a share of all 9,490 of us. A further 1,547 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 33.4%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 20.4%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Katherine, 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 Katherine 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 Katherine.