Mandarin
3,502 speakers
Mandarin is spoken by 3,502 of our residents at home, 4.9% of North Sydney.
We are North Sydney
24 per cent.
Nearly 24 in every 100 North Sydney residents speak a language other than English at home. It is one of the shares that shapes New South Wales.
- Our population
- 72,094
- Speak another language
- 17,186
- Languages at home
- 98
- Growth since last census
- +12.1%
One in 4 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 17k people, most often Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese. 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
#21
of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #86 of 540 nationally.
What makes our community ours
Cantonese
2,312 speakers
Cantonese is spoken by 2,312 of our residents at home, 3.2% of North Sydney.
Japanese
1,229 speakers
Japanese is spoken by 1,229 of our residents at home, 1.7% of North Sydney.
The languages of North Sydney
98 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
Portuguese
+48.2% since last census
We share this portrait because a council below the New South Wales average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 17k 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.
Portuguese grew 48.2% since the last census, to 692 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
38.7% of us were born overseas, across 115 countries.
- 01England4,499-2.3%
- 02China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)2,971+33.5%
- 03New Zealand1,869-13.7%
- 04India1,841+17.4%
- 05Hong Kong (SAR of China)1,368+26.1%
- 06South Africa1,286+14.9%
- 07United States of America1,111+2.0%
- 08Japan1,093-5.3%
- 09Philippines855+16.0%
- 10Malaysia755+17.1%
What we believe
Reported affiliation in North Sydney at the 2021 Census, with the change since 2016.
- 01No religion or secular beliefs34,233+26.5%
- 02Christianity28,616-5.3%
- 03Hinduism2,092+19.5%
- 04Buddhism2,0800%
- 05Judaism722+14.6%
- 06Islam587+7.1%
Our suburbs
Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 14 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.
- St Leonards (NSW)Top language — Mandarin46%3,203
- Milsons PointTop language — Mandarin33%812
- North SydneyTop language — Mandarin30%2,578
- WollstonecraftTop language — Mandarin24%1,980
- Crows Nest (NSW)Top language — Mandarin23%1,162
- WavertonTop language — Mandarin21%570
- Cremorne (NSW)Top language — Mandarin20%2,311
- Neutral BayTop language — Mandarin19%1,889
- Lavender BayTop language — Mandarin19%152
- KirribilliTop language — Mandarin17%626
- CammerayTop language — Mandarin16%1,154
- McMahons PointTop language — Mandarin14%320
- Kurraba PointTop language — Mandarin14%204
- Cremorne PointTop language — Mandarin12%225
- 14 suburbs in North Sydney. Percentage is residents speaking a language other than English at home; the figure beneath it is how many people that is.
Where we are
North Sydney 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
- North Sydney
- 23.8%
- New South Wales
- 25.7%
- Australia
- 21.3%
23.8% of North Sydney 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. 23.8% is 17,186 residents as a share of all 72,094 of us. A further 3,287 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 28.4%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 25.0%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for North Sydney, 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 North Sydney 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 North Sydney.