Language used at home explained

Language used at home shows whether people use only English or another language at home.

These figures are Place Forecast estimates based on Census data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Each person is counted once. English only means they use no other language at home. People who use another language are counted under that language, even if they also use English. If they use more than one other language, the Census records the one they use most.

Some groups hold several languages. Two examples are Other Chinese languages and Other Indo-Aryan languages.

Australian Indigenous languages is one ABS group on this page. Single Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are not split out here.

Using another language at home does not tell you how well a person speaks English. See Proficiency in English for that, for people born overseas.

All other categories holds people whose language is not shown on its own.

Language not stated counts people whose Census form carried no usable language.

The figures count people where they usually live. They include people living in non-private dwellings such as hospitals, aged-care homes, hostels, and student housing. People here on a visit from another country are left out.

Reading this data fairly

These figures show how people answered Census questions. Here are the equity caveats to keep in mind. They keep the numbers fair:

  • Language used at home is one of the Census topics used in CALD analysis. On its own it is not a measure of need. It does not show English need.

When the 2016 Census is shown beside 2021, the two do not list the same categories. The 2021 Census publishes some that the 2016 Census did not, so those rows show a dash in the 2016 column: Gujarati, Khmer, Malayalam, Nepali and Portuguese. A dash means the Census published no figure for that category, not that nobody in the area belonged to it. A category the Census did publish as none keeps its 0.

See the marker methodology for how these figures are calculated and their limitations.

Language used at home of Weddin in 2021
Local government area; persons
Source: Forecast data provided by Place Info Pty Ltd.
Language used at home 2021
English only 3302.00
Language not stated 255.00
Other language 13.00
Malayalam 7.00
Hindi 6.00
Arabic 5.00
Australian Indigenous languages 5.00
Cantonese 5.00
Tagalog 5.00
Bengali 4.00
All other categories 6.00
Total 3613.00
Some of these figures need a note to read correctly.

Partly or wholly derived from the ABS LGA total: Afrikaans; Arabic; Australian Indigenous languages and 39 other categories. See LGA anchoring.