We are Toowoomba

8 per cent.

8 in every 100 Toowoomba residents speak a language other than English at home. 14k people, in 125 languages — small enough to be overlooked, large enough to be a community.

Our population
171,326
Speak another language
13,770
Languages at home
125
Growth since last census
+53.2%

Most of us speak English at home. 14k of us do not, across 125 languages, most often Kurdish, Mandarin and Arabic. Small communities are the ones a mainstream service misses first and notices last — which is the whole reason to count them.

In Queensland

#23

of 76 Queensland councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #190 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Kurdish

1,920 speakers

Kurdish is spoken by 1,920 of our residents at home, 1.1% of Toowoomba.

Mandarin

1,155 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 1,155 of our residents at home, 0.7% of Toowoomba.

Arabic

863 speakers

Arabic is spoken by 863 of our residents at home, 0.5% of Toowoomba.

The languages of Toowoomba

125 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 Toowoomba, covering 10,166 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
    Kurdish
    1,920+5233%
  2. 02
    Mandarin
    1,155+28.0%
  3. 03
    Arabic
    863+3.6%
  4. 04
    Nepali
    748+141%
  5. 05
    Punjabi
    688+131%
  6. 06
    Malayalam
    546+127%
  7. 07
    Tagalog
    539+28.0%
  8. 08
    Filipino
    511+33.4%
  9. 09
    Afrikaans
    465+16.8%
  10. 10
    Dinka
    456-3.4%

Fastest-growing among us

Nepali

+140.5% since last census

We share this portrait because a council below the Queensland average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 14k 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.

Nepali grew 140.5% since the last census, to 748 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

12.1% of us were born overseas, across 123 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    3,1930%
  2. 02
    New Zealand
    2,392+6.5%
  3. 03
    Iraq
    2,179+566%
  4. 04
    India
    1,897+57.3%
  5. 05
    Philippines
    1,568+40.9%
  6. 06
    South Africa
    1,026+25.7%
  7. 07
    Nepal
    744+166%
  8. 08
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    555+13.3%
  9. 09
    Zimbabwe
    456-4.2%
  10. 10
    Sri Lanka
    377+30.4%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    96,826-10.5%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    55,506+69.4%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    2,116+75.2%
  4. 04
    Islam
    1,448-7.1%
  5. 05
    Buddhism
    1,435+20.7%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    310%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 90 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Toowoomba 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

Toowoomba
8.0%
Queensland
12.2%
Australia
21.3%

8.0% of Toowoomba residents speak a language other than English at home, against 12.2% for Queensland 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. 8.0% is 13,770 residents as a share of all 171,326 of us. A further 9,488 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 13.6%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 8.5%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Toowoomba, 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 Toowoomba 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 Toowoomba.