In 2021, 26.6% of people from NSW spoke a language other than English at home.

New South Wales is Australia’s 2nd most linguistically diverse state, behind Victoria. It is home to speakers of over 300 languages.

So, what are the top 10 languages spoken in NSW?

Top 10 Languages Spoken in New South Wales

According to the 2021 Census, the Top 10 Languages Spoken in New South Wales are:

  1. Mandarin
  2. Arabic
  3. Cantonese
  4. Vietnamese
  5. Filipino / Tagalog
  6. Hindi
  7. Greek
  8. Spanish
  9. Nepali
  10. Italian

Now let’s compare the 2021 Census data with the 2016 Census. Here are New South Wales’ Top 10 Languages Spoken at home, excluding English:

Top 10 Languages Spoken in NSW
(excluding English)

# Languages 2021 % change from 2016 to 2021
1 Mandarin 270,685 + 12.8%
2 Arabic 227,243 + 13.2%
3 Cantonese 148,943 + 3.9%
4 Vietnamese 117,907 + 14.6%
5 Filipino / Tagalog 82,469 + 18.9%
6 Hindi 80,051 + 19.4%
7 Greek 78,691 – 3.7%
8 Spanish 71,868 + 13.1%
9 Nepali 68,148 + 96.9%
10 Italian 64,039 – 16.4%

 

Analysis of the language spoken at home by the population of NSW in 2021 compared to Australia shows that there was a smaller proportion of people who spoke English only, and a larger proportion of those speaking a non-English language (either exclusively, or in addition to English).

Changes in composition between 2016 and 2021

In New South Wales, Nepali speakers have surged between 2016 and 2021. This trend is reflected across Australia and in other Australian states.

Italian and Greek speakers have also seen a reduction in the number of speakers between 2016 and 2021. This is driven by an ageing population of migrants who have arrived decades ago and a declining level of migrants from those peaks.

Nevertheless, in-language resources for Italian and Greek speakers still remain in high demand. This is because many of the older members of Greek and Italian-speaking communities typically report having lower levels of English language proficiency.

For example, did you know that 11.8% of Italian speakers in NSW report having low English language proficiency across all age groups?

But over a quarter (27.3%) of Italian speakers aged over 70 years of age in NSW report having low English language proficiency.

To engage multicultural communities in New South Wales by communicating in the right languages, talk to our Translation Strategy team about language selection. They offer complimentary cultural and language advice with every quote!