We are Stirling

26 per cent.

Nearly 26 in every 100 Stirling residents speak a language other than English at home. It is among the highest shares of any council in Western Australia.

Our population
223,990
Speak another language
57,783
Languages at home
151
Growth since last census
+8.5%

One in 4 of us speaks a language other than English at home: 58k people, most often Italian, Mandarin and Vietnamese. That is not a fringe of the community. It is a standing share of every audience anyone here is trying to reach.

In Western Australia

#9

of 137 Western Australia councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #82 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Italian

5,892 speakers

Italian is spoken by 5,892 of our residents at home, 2.6% of Stirling.

Mandarin

4,876 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 4,876 of our residents at home, 2.2% of Stirling.

Vietnamese

4,864 speakers

Vietnamese is spoken by 4,864 of our residents at home, 2.2% of Stirling.

The languages of Stirling

151 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 Stirling, covering 39,221 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
    Italian
    5,892-11.0%
  2. 02
    Mandarin
    4,876+14.0%
  3. 03
    Vietnamese
    4,864+9.8%
  4. 04
    Cantonese
    2,590+3.8%
  5. 05
    Arabic
    2,494+5.8%
  6. 06
    Macedonian
    2,473-4.1%
  7. 07
    Gujarati
    2,150+12.2%
  8. 08
    Punjabi
    1,965+24.0%
  9. 09
    Spanish
    1,756+43.5%
  10. 10
    Portuguese
    1,646+39.1%

Fastest-growing among us

Nepali

+119.9% since last census

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

Nepali grew 119.9% since the last census, to 706 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 157 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    11,952+4.2%
  2. 02
    India
    6,632+4.1%
  3. 03
    New Zealand
    4,566-12.1%
  4. 04
    South Africa
    4,096+9.8%
  5. 05
    Italy
    4,003-4.0%
  6. 06
    Vietnam
    3,778+6.9%
  7. 07
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    3,120+8.2%
  8. 08
    Malaysia
    2,800+12.6%
  9. 09
    Ireland
    2,356-16.3%
  10. 10
    Bhutan
    1,899+412%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    99,131-6.0%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    86,214+38.8%
  3. 03
    Islam
    8,283+17.2%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    7,924+26.5%
  5. 05
    Hinduism
    5,882+15.3%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    2,7100%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 29 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Stirling 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

Stirling
25.8%
Western Australia
17.3%
Australia
21.3%

25.8% of Stirling residents speak a language other than English at home, against 17.3% for Western 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. 25.8% is 57,783 residents as a share of all 223,990 of us. A further 11,329 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 30.9%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 27.2%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Stirling, 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 Stirling 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 Stirling.