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Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory

Languages spoken in Tiwi Islands

Tiwi is the most widely spoken First Nations language in Tiwi Islands, where about 1,900 people speak a language other than English at home, according to the 2021 Census. The rest are smaller communities, below one in 100 residents each. Against the Northern Territory, Tiwi Islands is about two and a half times as multilingual.

Residents
2,324
Speak another language
1,905
Languages at home
13
Change since 2016
−7.7%

Which First Nations languages are spoken in Tiwi Islands?

1 First Nations languages have speakers here, led by Tiwi, Kriol and Burarra. Together they account for almost all of those who speak a language other than English.

  1. 01
    Tiwi
    1,8100%
  2. 02
    Kriol
    6

The ABS’s own post-enumeration survey found the census missed a much larger share of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than of the population overall, so counts here are best read as a floor.

How does Tiwi Islands' language picture differ from Darwin?

Measured against Darwin, Tiwi Islands' share is about two and a half times as high. In the Northern Territory, Tiwi Islands is in 10th place.

Tiwi Islands
82.0%
Darwin
29.4%
Northern Territory
32.1%

Each bar uses the same count: residents who named another home language, over all residents.

Compare Tiwi Islands with every council on the diversity index.

How do Tiwi Islands' languages rank?

Ten rows at a time, largest first. Anything the ABS couldn't pin to a single language is counted in the totals, not here.

  1. 01
    Tiwi
    1,8100%
  2. 02
    Tok Pisin (Neomelanesian)
    26
  3. 03
    Fijian
    120%
  4. 04
    Kriol
    6
  5. 05
    Filipino
    4-55.6%
  6. 06
    Indonesian
    4-20.0%
  7. 07
    Tagalog
    4+33.3%
  8. 08
    Vietnamese
    4-50.0%
  9. 09
    Maori (New Zealand)
    3
  10. 10
    Burarra
    0-100%

Which multicultural languages have the most speakers in Tiwi Islands?

Beyond First Nations languages, these are the largest.

Include First Nations languagesShowing multicultural languagesLEXIGO works in multicultural communication. First Nations languages are optional to display and are not counted in the multicultural rankings.

Fijian

12 speakers

Used at home by fewer than one in 100 residents.

Filipino

4 speakers

The community has fallen by more than a quarter since 2016.

Which localities in Tiwi Islands have the most speakers of other languages?

Open any suburb for its own language breakdown.

Where does Tiwi Islands sit on the map of Australia's languages?

Darker shading means more residents speaking a multicultural languageany language other than English at home. ABS ASGS 2021 boundaries. Open the national map.

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.

The headline 82.0% counts only residents who named a language other than English. 130 people left the question blank; treat every blank as another language and the figure is 87.6%, while measuring only those who answered gives 86.8%.

Language lists name languages only; residual ABS groups are in the totals. Summed-suburb national totals run a little low.

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

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