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Melbourne, Melbourne

Languages spoken in Melbourne

The 2021 Census found Chinese spoken at home by about 13,000 people in Melbourne, well ahead of any other language. Indonesian comes next. Melbourne's share is above Australia as a whole, at about two and a half times the rate.

Residents
52,620
Speak another language
53.9%+3.0%
Languages spoken
91
Born overseas
63.1%

How far does Chinese lead in Melbourne?

Chinese at home

25%

The census counts Mandarin, Cantonese and Min Nan separately; together they make up the Chinese-speaking community.

What's spoken in Melbourne besides Chinese?

Include First Nations languagesShowing multicultural languages
  1. 01
    Mandarin
    10,972-12.3%
  2. 02
    Cantonese
    2,134-8.1%
  3. 03
    Indonesian
    1,671+2.3%
  4. 04
    Spanish
    1,405+73.0%
  5. 05
    Hindi
    1,333+38.9%
  6. 06
    Thai
    1,237+17.4%
  7. 07
    Vietnamese
    1,191+104%
  8. 08
    Korean
    1,088-26.0%
  9. 09
    Japanese
    433-1.8%
  10. 10
    Nepali
    428+997%

Is Melbourne more multilingual than Victoria?

Melbourne's share is above Victoria, at more than twice the rate.

Melbourne
53.9%
Australia
21.3%
Victoria
26.6%

Share of residents speaking a language other than English at home.

Where were Melbourne's residents born?

China is the most common overseas birthplace.

  1. 01
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    8,171-19.8%
  2. 02
    India
    3,834+43.6%
  3. 03
    Malaysia
    3,3940%
  4. 04
    Indonesia
    2,000+8.6%
  5. 05
    Thailand
    1,398+22.8%
  6. 06
    Korea, Republic of (South)
    1,143-28.8%
  7. 07
    Philippines
    1,141+178%
  8. 08
    Vietnam
    1,130+105%
  9. 09
    New Zealand
    991+32.7%
  10. 10
    England
    950+10.1%

What's Melbourne's religious mix?

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    25,030+20.6%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    12,122+18.6%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    4,910+2.8%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    3,654+48.4%
  5. 05
    Islam
    1,366+11.9%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    296+2.1%

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2021, by suburb and locality. Growth compares 2021 against the 2016 Census.

Reuse these figures under CC BY 4.0 with credit to LEXIGO Language Map.

Melbourne is part of Melbourne, which has its own page with every suburb compared. For material in these languages, get a quote for translation.