25th of 542 local government areas for language diversity

The languages of Whitehorse, led by Chinese

Chinese is the language Whitehorse hears most after English: the 2021 Census counted nearly one in four residents speaking it at home. The next four languages combined don't reach its total. The City of Melbourne sits a little above Whitehorse.

Residents
164,446
Speak another language
66,066
Languages at home
124
Change since 2016
+14.8%

How large is Whitehorse's Chinese-speaking community?

Chinese at home

23%

The Chinese-speaking community numbers about 37,000 people. That's 57 per cent of those who speak a language other than English. The census counts Mandarin, Cantonese and Min Nan separately, and Mandarin leads. In five years, the Chinese-speaking group has grown since 2016.

Is Whitehorse more multilingual than Australia as a whole?

Australia as a whole comes in under Whitehorse's share. Whitehorse is in the top ten of Victoria's 79 councils.

Whitehorse
40.2%
Australia
21.3%
City of Melbourne
45.0%

Every figure leaves unanswered questions out of the count, so the areas compare like for like.

Compare Whitehorse with every council on the diversity index.

Which suburbs of Whitehorse have the largest Chinese-speaking share?

The Chinese-speaking share peaks in Box Hill, at more than two in five residents.

The suburb names link through to their own figures.

Which other communities are large in Whitehorse?

The next tier is much smaller, but it's still sizeable.

Greek

3,743 speakers

About 2.3 per cent of all residents.

Vietnamese

2,244 speakers

Spoken at home by 1.4 per cent of residents.

Hindi

2,204 speakers

It has grown by more than a quarter since 2016.

How does the rest of Whitehorse's language list look?

The chip beside each count is the change since 2016. Totals include broad ABS categories like "Chinese, nfd" that the list leaves out.

  1. 0127,346+29.3%
  2. 029,301+7.8%
  3. 033,743-8.6%
  4. 042,244+8.2%
  5. 052,204+25.9%
  6. 061,689+18.6%
  7. 071,682-24.1%
  8. 081,347+16.6%
  9. 091,209+16.5%
  10. 101,117+21.8%

How big is each language community in Whitehorse?

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Whitehorse, covering 57,572 speakers. Block size follows speaker numbers; colour follows the five-year change. Every figure is also in the table below.
  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Whitehorse, covering 57,572 speakers. Block size follows speaker numbers; colour follows the five-year change. Every figure is also in the table below.

Where were Whitehorse's residents born, and what do they believe?

Overseas-born residents make up 40 per cent of residents, most often from China.

Country of birth

40.3% born overseas, across 136 countries.

  1. 01
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    21,996+16.7%
  2. 02
    India
    6,696+35.4%
  3. 03
    Malaysia
    5,491+25.1%
  4. 04
    England
    3,528-6.6%
  5. 05
    Hong Kong (SAR of China)
    2,657+11.4%
  6. 06
    Vietnam
    2,613+13.5%
  7. 07
    Sri Lanka
    2,477+17.8%
  8. 08
    New Zealand
    1,725-5.4%
  9. 09
    Greece
    1,552-3.4%
  10. 10
    Philippines
    1,318+33.5%

Religious affiliation

Reported affiliation, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    No religion or secular beliefs
    73,178+22.9%
  2. 02
    Christianity
    64,209-9.9%
  3. 03
    Buddhism
    9,151+12.5%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    6,521+52.4%
  5. 05
    Islam
    2,726+24.8%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    189-4.1%

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

Whitehorse on the Language Map, shaded for residents who speak a multicultural languageany language other than English at home (ABS ASGS 2021 boundaries). View all councils.

Figures come from the ABS Census of Population and Housing 2021 (language used at home), aggregated from Statistical Area Level 2 to Local Government Area, with 2016 for comparison.

Other sources sometimes quote 43.9% for Whitehorse. That figure treats the 6,062 unanswered forms as another language. This page uses 40.2%, and 41.7% is the share among those who answered.

National totals here run slightly under ABS published figures, because summing suburbs misses people without a usual address. Broad ABS categories count in the totals but not in the ranked lists.

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

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