We are Unley

18 per cent.

About 18 in every 100 Unley residents speak a language other than English at home, across 88 languages.

Our population
38,156
Speak another language
6,982
Languages at home
88
Growth since last census
+4.1%

6,982 of us — 18.3% — speak a language other than English at home, most often Mandarin, Greek and Italian. A share this size is easy to design around by accident, which is precisely how it gets designed out.

In South Australia

#15

of 70 South Australia councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #113 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Mandarin

1,411 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 1,411 of our residents at home, 3.7% of Unley.

Greek

1,234 speakers

Greek is spoken by 1,234 of our residents at home, 3.2% of Unley.

Italian

550 speakers

Italian is spoken by 550 of our residents at home, 1.4% of Unley.

The languages of Unley

88 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 Unley, covering 5,655 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
    Mandarin
    1,411+3.4%
  2. 02
    Greek
    1,234-8.0%
  3. 03
    Italian
    550-19.2%
  4. 04
    Hindi
    267+31.5%
  5. 05
    Cantonese
    243-24.5%
  6. 06
    Nepali
    235+164%
  7. 07
    Spanish
    230+30.7%
  8. 08
    French
    193+48.5%
  9. 09
    Vietnamese
    159+63.9%
  10. 10
    Sinhalese
    151+88.8%

Fastest-growing among us

Hindi

+31.5% since last census

We share this portrait because Unley is, genuinely, not an “average” council. 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.

Hindi grew 31.5% since the last census, to 267 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

23.1% of us were born overseas, across 103 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    1,715+2.2%
  2. 02
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    1,030-15.6%
  3. 03
    India
    827+29.6%
  4. 04
    Greece
    460-12.2%
  5. 05
    Italy
    345-15.4%
  6. 06
    New Zealand
    3120%
  7. 07
    Malaysia
    292+2.8%
  8. 08
    Nepal
    225+178%
  9. 09
    South Africa
    212+35.0%
  10. 10
    Scotland
    206+9.0%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    18,541+26.4%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    16,080-10.2%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    893+56.1%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    637+6.7%
  5. 05
    Islam
    437+6.6%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    55+19.6%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 16 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Unley 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

Unley
18.3%
South Australia
16.9%
Australia
21.3%

18.3% of Unley 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. 18.3% is 6,982 residents as a share of all 38,156 of us. A further 931 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 20.7%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 18.8%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Unley, 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 Unley 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 Unley.