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21st of 542 local government areas for language diversity

Whittlesea's languages, none of them in the majority

The 2021 Census found about 106,000 people in Whittlesea speaking a language other than English at home, spread across 107 languages of ten or more speakers and with no clear leader. That's 107 languages with a community of ten or more. The share speaking another language is close to the share for the City of Melbourne.

Residents
240,594
Speak another language
105,796
Languages at home
147
Change since 2016
+17.2%

How evenly spread are Whittlesea's languages?

The biggest single language, Arabic, is spoken by about 12,000 people. The five largest languages together cover 20 per cent of residents. 11 languages clear the one-in-100 mark on their own.

What are Whittlesea's biggest languages, in order?

Ten rows at a time, largest first. Anything the ABS couldn't pin to a single language is counted in the totals, not here.

  1. 01
    Arabic
    12,123+18.6%
  2. 02
    Macedonian
    10,147-1.9%
  3. 03
    Punjabi
    9,931+56.3%
  4. 04
    Italian
    8,712-15.7%
  5. 05
    Greek
    7,616-1.9%
  6. 06
    Mandarin
    6,550+5.4%
  7. 07
    Vietnamese
    5,488+9.2%
  8. 08
    Hindi
    4,742+31.6%
  9. 09
    Malayalam
    2,835+83.0%
  10. 10
    Sinhalese
    2,829+34.6%

How do Whittlesea's languages compare in size?

  • Grew 50%+
  • 25%+
  • 10%+
  • Held
  • Slipped
  • Declined 10%+
  • Not comparable
The 18 most spoken languages in Whittlesea, covering 86,912 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 Whittlesea, covering 86,912 speakers. Block size follows speaker numbers; colour follows the five-year change. Every figure is also in the table below.

How does Whittlesea rank against every other council?

Nationally

#21

Whittlesea ranks 21st of 542 local government areas nationally. In Victoria, it’s 8 of 79. Compare Whittlesea with every council on the diversity index.

How do Whittlesea's suburbs differ?

Thomastown is highest, at nearly two in three residents; Whittlesea is lowest.

Every suburb here has a page of its own.

What else does the census say about Whittlesea?

India is the most common overseas birthplace.

Country of birth

35.7% born overseas, across 148 countries.

  1. 01
    India
    17,589+51.4%
  2. 02
    Italy
    6,015-2.3%
  3. 03
    North Macedonia
    5,783
  4. 04
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    5,049-4.7%
  5. 05
    Sri Lanka
    4,013+18.6%
  6. 06
    Greece
    3,932+1.6%
  7. 07
    Vietnam
    3,799+11.1%
  8. 08
    Iraq
    3,067+32.0%
  9. 09
    Philippines
    3,034+27.1%
  10. 10
    England
    2,880+1.0%

Religious affiliation

Reported affiliation, with the change since 2016.

  1. 01
    Christianity
    115,188+1.3%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    60,627+35.7%
  3. 03
    Islam
    21,222+40.9%
  4. 04
    Hinduism
    14,919+70.9%
  5. 05
    Buddhism
    8,294+15.5%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    38+90.0%

How much more multilingual is Whittlesea than Australia as a whole?

Measured against Australia as a whole, Whittlesea's share is more than twice as high. In Victoria, Whittlesea is in 8th place.

Whittlesea
44.0%
Australia
21.3%
City of Melbourne
45.0%

Each bar uses the same count: residents who named another home language, over all residents.

Compare Whittlesea with every council on the diversity index.

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

Whittlesea shaded by the share of residents speaking a multicultural languageany language other than English at home. Boundaries are ABS ASGS 2021. See every council on one map.

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.

Other sources sometimes quote 48.7% for Whittlesea. That figure treats the 11,478 unanswered forms as another language. This page uses 44.0%, and 46.2% is the share among those who answered.

Ranked lists skip broad categories such as "Chinese, nfd", which stay in the totals. National figures are summed from suburbs and sit a touch under the ABS release.

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

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