We are Maribyrnong

37 per cent.

Nearly 37 in every 100 Maribyrnong residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Victoria.

Our population
83,531
Speak another language
30,764
Languages at home
122
Growth since last census
−6.0%

Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin are spoken here in numbers that shape how the place works. 31k of us — 36.8% — speak a language other than English at home, so an English-only notice reaches barely half the households it was addressed to.

In Victoria

#12

of 79 Victoria councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #53 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Vietnamese

9,952 speakers

Vietnamese is spoken by 9,952 of our residents at home, 11.9% of Maribyrnong.

Cantonese

2,428 speakers

Cantonese is spoken by 2,428 of our residents at home, 2.9% of Maribyrnong.

Mandarin

2,013 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 2,013 of our residents at home, 2.4% of Maribyrnong.

The languages of Maribyrnong

122 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 Maribyrnong, covering 24,994 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
    Vietnamese
    9,952+1.7%
  2. 02
    Cantonese
    2,428-0.8%
  3. 03
    Mandarin
    2,013-22.9%
  4. 04
    Greek
    1,612-9.6%
  5. 05
    Spanish
    1,490+41.5%
  6. 06
    Italian
    1,216-15.2%
  7. 07
    Telugu
    957+3.5%
  8. 08
    Arabic
    709-8.2%
  9. 09
    Macedonian
    658-7.5%
  10. 10
    Hindi
    555-34.4%

Fastest-growing among us

Spanish

+41.5% since last census

We share this portrait because Maribyrnong is, genuinely, not an “average” council. Services designed for the median Victoria 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.

Spanish grew 41.5% since the last census, to 1,490 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

35.6% of us were born overseas, across 126 countries.

  1. 01
    Vietnam
    7,6600%
  2. 02
    India
    2,925-11.2%
  3. 03
    England
    1,910+15.1%
  4. 04
    New Zealand
    1,643+4.7%
  5. 05
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    1,609-32.5%
  6. 06
    Philippines
    1,204+15.2%
  7. 07
    Malaysia
    977+21.4%
  8. 08
    Italy
    740-22.6%
  9. 09
    Greece
    680-17.8%
  10. 10
    Colombia
    620+127%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    38,493+26.7%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    27,409-6.0%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    6,8360%
  4. 04
    Islam
    3,339-6.7%
  5. 05
    Hinduism
    2,647-14.4%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    75+114%

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

Maribyrnong 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

Maribyrnong
36.8%
Victoria
26.6%
Australia
21.3%

36.8% of Maribyrnong 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. 36.8% is 30,764 residents as a share of all 83,531 of us. A further 4,531 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 42.3%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 38.9%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Maribyrnong, 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 Maribyrnong 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 Maribyrnong.