We are Wollongong

15 per cent.

About 15 in every 100 Wollongong residents speak a language other than English at home, across 120 languages.

Our population
211,670
Speak another language
31,029
Languages at home
120
Growth since last census
−2.3%

31k of us — 14.7% — speak a language other than English at home, most often Macedonian, Arabic and Italian. A share this size is easy to design around by accident, which is precisely how it gets designed out.

In New South Wales

#30

of 128 New South Wales councils for the share of residents speaking a language other than English at home. #132 of 540 nationally.

What makes our community ours

Macedonian

4,469 speakers

Macedonian is spoken by 4,469 of our residents at home, 2.1% of Wollongong.

Arabic

2,888 speakers

Arabic is spoken by 2,888 of our residents at home, 1.4% of Wollongong.

Italian

2,869 speakers

Italian is spoken by 2,869 of our residents at home, 1.4% of Wollongong.

The languages of Wollongong

120 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 Wollongong, covering 24,174 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
    Macedonian
    4,469-6.2%
  2. 02
    Arabic
    2,888+1.8%
  3. 03
    Italian
    2,869-21.7%
  4. 04
    Mandarin
    2,203-26.3%
  5. 05
    Spanish
    1,638+7.4%
  6. 06
    Greek
    1,502-10.6%
  7. 07
    Serbian
    1,411-1.0%
  8. 08
    Vietnamese
    1,105+1.8%
  9. 09
    Portuguese
    931-2.2%
  10. 10
    Turkish
    878+4.8%

Fastest-growing among us

Urdu

+109.1% 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. 31k 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.

Urdu grew 109.1% since the last census, to 554 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

18.6% of us were born overseas, across 145 countries.

  1. 01
    England
    8,008-0.8%
  2. 02
    North Macedonia
    2,906
  3. 03
    India
    2,281+60.0%
  4. 04
    Italy
    2,277-9.6%
  5. 05
    New Zealand
    2,261+9.7%
  6. 06
    China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)
    1,765-40.7%
  7. 07
    Philippines
    1,225+29.6%
  8. 08
    Scotland
    1,188-13.1%
  9. 09
    Vietnam
    943+14.6%
  10. 10
    Germany
    870-12.2%

What we believe

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

  1. 01
    Christianity
    107,825-10.7%
  2. 02
    No religion or secular beliefs
    83,180+44.2%
  3. 03
    Islam
    5,581+22.1%
  4. 04
    Buddhism
    2,370-3.2%
  5. 05
    Hinduism
    1,876+52.1%
  6. 06
    Judaism
    125+131%

Our suburbs

Our linguistic character changes street by street. Click through to any of our 57 suburbs for its own portrait: the languages spoken there, the communities calling it home.

Where we are

Wollongong 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

Wollongong
14.7%
New South Wales
25.7%
Australia
21.3%

14.7% of Wollongong 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. 14.7% is 31,029 residents as a share of all 211,670 of us. A further 9,462 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 19.1%, which is a larger number and a weaker claim. Measured only across the residents who answered, the share is 15.3%. If you have seen a higher figure quoted for Wollongong, 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 Wollongong 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 Wollongong.