We are Waverley

19 per cent.

About 19 in every 100 Waverley residents speak a language other than English at home, across 77 languages.

Our population
60,776
Speak another language
11,794
Languages at home
77
Growth since last census
+2.8%

12k of us — 19.4% — speak a language other than English at home, most often Spanish, French and Portuguese. A share this size is easy to design around by accident, which is precisely how it gets designed out.

In New South Wales

#25

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #104 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Spanish

1,796 speakers

Spanish is spoken by 1,796 of our residents at home, 3.0% of Waverley.

French

1,236 speakers

French is spoken by 1,236 of our residents at home, 2.0% of Waverley.

Portuguese

1,133 speakers

Portuguese is spoken by 1,133 of our residents at home, 1.9% of Waverley.

The languages of Waverley

77 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 Waverley, covering 10,471 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
    Spanish
    1,796+37.9%
  2. 02
    French
    1,236+11.1%
  3. 03
    Portuguese
    1,133-5.5%
  4. 04
    Russian
    1,126-9.5%
  5. 05
    Italian
    958-6.9%
  6. 06
    Mandarin
    812+23.4%
  7. 07
    Greek
    657+16.1%
  8. 08
    Hebrew
    654-1.5%
  9. 09
    German
    518-13.7%
  10. 10
    Cantonese
    298-4.5%

Fastest-growing among us

Spanish

+37.9% 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. 12k 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.

Spanish grew 37.9% since the last census, to 1,796 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

38.9% of us were born overseas, across 112 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    5,248+18.8%
  2. 02
    South Africa
    2,280+13.7%
  3. 03
    New Zealand
    1,465-10.5%
  4. 04
    United States of America
    1,146+25.1%
  5. 05
    Brazil
    1,119+4.0%
  6. 06
    Ireland
    1,031+8.3%
  7. 07
    France
    854+8.7%
  8. 08
    Italy
    790-1.9%
  9. 09
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    676+9.4%
  10. 10
    Israel
    504+19.1%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    27,047+28.2%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    19,738-5.2%
  3. 03
    Judaism
    8,465+9.5%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    750+1.9%
  5. 05
    Hinduism
    272+48.6%
  6. 06
    Islam
    270+26.8%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 9 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Waverley 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

Waverley
19.4%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

19.4% of Waverley 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. 19.4% is 11,794 residents as a share of all 60,776 of us. A further 3,745 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 25.6%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 20.7%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Waverley, 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 Waverley 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 Waverley.