We are Wagga Wagga

8 per cent.

8 in every 100 Wagga Wagga residents speak a language other than English at home. 5,475 people, in 94 languages — small enough to be overlooked, large enough to be a community.

Our population
66,985
Speak another language
5,475
Languages at home
94
Growth since last census
+59.0%

Most of us speak English at home. 5,475 of us do not, across 94 languages, most often Kurdish, Malayalam and Mandarin. Small communities are the ones a mainstream service misses first and notices last — which is the whole reason to count them.

In New South Wales

#42

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #187 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Kurdish

700 speakers

Kurdish is spoken by 700 of our residents at home, 1.0% of Wagga Wagga.

Malayalam

556 speakers

Malayalam is spoken by 556 of our residents at home, 0.8% of Wagga Wagga.

Mandarin

354 speakers

Mandarin is spoken by 354 of our residents at home, 0.5% of Wagga Wagga.

The languages of Wagga Wagga

94 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 Wagga Wagga, covering 3,772 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
    700
  2. 02
    Malayalam
    556+38.3%
  3. 03
    Mandarin
    354+29.2%
  4. 04
    Arabic
    319+17.3%
  5. 05
    Punjabi
    270+400%
  6. 06
    Filipino
    186+25.7%
  7. 07
    Nepali
    171+180%
  8. 08
    Burmese
    152+67.0%
  9. 09
    Tagalog
    133-26.9%
  10. 10
    Hindi
    124+19.2%

Fastest-growing among us

Malayalam

+38.3% since last census

We share this portrait because a council below the New South Wales average is the one most likely to be planned for as though everybody here reads English. 5,475 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.

Malayalam grew 38.3% since the last census, to 556 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

9.5% of us were born overseas, across 95 countries.

  1. 01
    India
    982+53.7%
  2. 02
    Iraq
    811+1743%
  3. 03
    England
    741-6.1%
  4. 04
    Philippines
    4340%
  5. 05
    New Zealand
    418-1.6%
  6. 06
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    305+32.0%
  7. 07
    Myanmar
    212+50.4%
  8. 08
    Nepal
    189+226%
  9. 09
    South Africa
    160-5.3%
  10. 10
    Sri Lanka
    156+57.6%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    38,577-7.9%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    21,449+52.8%
  3. 03
    Hinduism
    756+76.2%
  4. 04
    Islam
    631+14.3%
  5. 05
    Buddhism
    421+31.6%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    0-100%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 38 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Wagga Wagga 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

Wagga Wagga
8.2%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

8.2% of Wagga Wagga residents speak a language other than English at home, against 25.7% for New South Wales 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. 8.2% is 5,475 residents as a share of all 66,985 of us. A further 3,757 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 13.8%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 8.7%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Wagga Wagga, 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 Wagga Wagga 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 Wagga Wagga.