We are Lane Cove

26 per cent.

Nearly 26 in every 100 Lane Cove residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in New South Wales.

Our population
38,606
Speak another language
10,036
Languages at home
97
Growth since last census
+10.7%

One in 4 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 10k people, most often Mandarin, Cantonese and Spanish. 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

#20

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #79 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

2,050 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 2,050 of our residents at home, 5.3% of Lane Cove.

Cantonese

1,337 speakers

Cantonese is spoken by 1,337 of our residents at home, 3.5% of Lane Cove.

Spanish

579 speakers

Spanish is spoken by 579 of our residents at home, 1.5% of Lane Cove.

The languages of Lane Cove

97 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 Lane Cove, covering 7,823 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
    2,050+18.8%
  2. 02
    Cantonese
    1,337+14.3%
  3. 03
    Spanish
    579+23.2%
  4. 04
    Persian (excluding Dari)
    518+31.1%
  5. 05
    Japanese
    4160%
  6. 06
    Hindi
    401+22.3%
  7. 07
    Korean
    346+15.0%
  8. 08
    Italian
    236-25.8%
  9. 09
    Greek
    226+1.8%
  10. 10
    French
    214+9.2%

Fastest-growing among us

Persian (excluding Dari)

+31.1% since last census

We share this portrait because Lane Cove 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.

Persian (excluding Dari) grew 31.1% since the last census, to 518 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

35.2% of us were born overseas, across 103 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    1,853+2.6%
  2. 02
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    1,778+15.5%
  3. 03
    India
    1,036+23.0%
  4. 04
    New Zealand
    690-11.1%
  5. 05
    Hong Kong (SAR of China)
    625+21.4%
  6. 06
    South Africa
    552+20.3%
  7. 07
    Iran
    514+36.7%
  8. 08
    Philippines
    507+34.1%
  9. 09
    Malaysia
    501+12.1%
  10. 10
    United States of America
    425+8.1%

What we believe

Reported affiliation in Lane Cove at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    Christianity
    17,925-5.2%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    15,808+31.6%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    1,247+12.1%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    1,026+6.5%
  5. 05
    Islam
    584+26.7%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    4060%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 8 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Lane Cove 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

Lane Cove
26.0%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

26.0% of Lane Cove 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. 26.0% is 10,036 residents as a share of all 38,606 of us. A further 1,367 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 29.5%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 27.0%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Lane Cove, 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 Lane Cove 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 Lane Cove.