We are Prospect

28 per cent.

Nearly 28 in every 100 Prospect residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in South Australia.

Our population
19,385
Speak another language
5,431
Languages at home
81
Growth since last census
+19.1%

One in 4 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 5,431 people, most often Greek, Vietnamese and Italian. That is not a fringe of the community. It is a standing share of every audience anyone here is trying to reach.

In South Australia

#8

of 70 South Australia councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #73 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Greek

843 speakers

Greek is spoken by 843 of our residents at home, 4.3% of Prospect.

Vietnamese

751 speakers

Vietnamese is spoken by 751 of our residents at home, 3.9% of Prospect.

Italian

517 speakers

Italian is spoken by 517 of our residents at home, 2.7% of Prospect.

The languages of Prospect

81 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 Prospect, covering 4,465 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
    Greek
    843-3.7%
  2. 02
    Vietnamese
    751+68.8%
  3. 03
    Italian
    517-14.5%
  4. 04
    Mandarin
    388+5.1%
  5. 05
    Punjabi
    373+58.7%
  6. 06
    Hindi
    258+31.0%
  7. 07
    Gujarati
    229-27.5%
  8. 08
    Cantonese
    156+4.0%
  9. 09
    Arabic
    128+42.2%
  10. 10
    Nepali
    122+130%

Fastest-growing among us

Vietnamese

+68.8% since last census

We share this portrait because Prospect is, genuinely, not an “average” council — the share here is 1.7 times the South Australia figure. Services designed for the median South Australia 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.

Vietnamese grew 68.8% since the last census, to 751 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

26.5% of us were born overseas, across 87 countries.

  1. 01
    India
    1,133+36.5%
  2. 02
    England
    655-5.2%
  3. 03
    Vietnam
    479+67.5%
  4. 04
    Italy
    334-14.4%
  5. 05
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    325-7.9%
  6. 06
    Greece
    281-15.9%
  7. 07
    Philippines
    164+60.8%
  8. 08
    Malaysia
    139+0.7%
  9. 09
    Nepal
    127+135%
  10. 10
    New Zealand
    119-7.0%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    8,490-4.8%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    7,805+33.6%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    908+25.6%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    571+32.8%
  5. 05
    Islam
    513+8.0%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    30%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 5 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Prospect 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

Prospect
28.0%
South Australia
16.9%
Australia
21.3%

28.0% of Prospect residents speak a language other than English at home, against 16.9% for South Australia 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. 28.0% is 5,431 residents as a share of all 19,385 of us. A further 594 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 31.1%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 28.9%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Prospect, 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 Prospect 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 Prospect.