We are Ku-ring-gai

33 per cent.

Nearly 33 in every 100 Ku-ring-gai residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.

Our population
129,592
Speak another language
42,425
Languages at home
105
Growth since last census
+28.6%

One in 3 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 42k people, most often Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean. That is not a fringe of the community. It is a standing share of every audience anyone here is trying to reach.

In New South Wales

#18

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #65 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

17,074 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 17,074 of our residents at home, 13.2% of Ku-ring-gai.

Cantonese

7,258 speakers

Cantonese is spoken by 7,258 of our residents at home, 5.6% of Ku-ring-gai.

Korean

3,289 speakers

Korean is spoken by 3,289 of our residents at home, 2.5% of Ku-ring-gai.

The languages of Ku-ring-gai

105 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 Ku-ring-gai, covering 37,291 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
    Mandarin
    17,074+56.7%
  2. 02
    Cantonese
    7,258+15.9%
  3. 03
    Korean
    3,289+6.9%
  4. 04
    Persian (excluding Dari)
    1,654+29.1%
  5. 05
    Hindi
    1,229+37.0%
  6. 06
    Spanish
    963+19.0%
  7. 07
    Japanese
    927-1.6%
  8. 08
    German
    598-5.4%
  9. 09
    Afrikaans
    4950%
  10. 10
    Russian
    490+27.3%

Fastest-growing among us

Tamil

+62.2% since last census

We share this portrait because Ku-ring-gai is, genuinely, not an “average” council. 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.

Tamil grew 62.2% since the last census, to 438 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

40.6% of us were born overseas, across 132 countries.

  1. 01
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    13,620+51.3%
  2. 02
    England
    6,457-7.8%
  3. 03
    South Africa
    3,858-5.3%
  4. 04
    Hong Kong (SAR of China)
    3,765+22.6%
  5. 05
    India
    2,804+32.6%
  6. 06
    Korea, Republic of (South)
    2,685+5.5%
  7. 07
    New Zealand
    2,140-8.7%
  8. 08
    Malaysia
    1,576+9.9%
  9. 09
    Iran
    1,526+29.0%
  10. 10
    United States of America
    1,098+4.4%

What we believe

Reported affiliation in Ku-ring-gai at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    Christianity
    58,558-9.8%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    53,828+37.5%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    4,032+20.0%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    3,194+35.7%
  5. 05
    Judaism
    2,932-7.8%
  6. 06
    Islam
    1,241+50.2%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 17 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Ku-ring-gai 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

Ku-ring-gai
32.7%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

32.7% of Ku-ring-gai 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. 32.7% is 42,425 residents as a share of all 129,592 of us. A further 3,426 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 35.4%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 33.6%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Ku-ring-gai, 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 Ku-ring-gai 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 Ku-ring-gai.