Between the 2016 and 2021 ABS census we have seen a very large increase in multicultural immigration in Australia. This has led to over 1.4m people in New South Wales (NSW) speaking a top 10 language other than English. The largest increases have come from Nepali and Indian language speakers increasing by 49% and 25% respectively. The most frequently spoken languages are Chinese, Arabic, Hindi and Punjabi.
Source: ABS Census 2021
| RANK | LANGUAGE | 2021 | % CHANGE FROM 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chinese Languages | 419,628 | 9% |
| 2 | Arabic | 227,243 | 12% |
| 3 | Indian Languages | 133,511 | 25% |
| 4 | Vietnamese | 117,907 | 13% |
| 5 | Filipino | 82,469 | 16% |
| 6 | Greek | 78,691 | -4% |
| 7 | Spanish | 71,868 | 12% |
| 8 | Nepali | 68,148 | 49% |
| 9 | Italian | 64,039 | -18% |
| 10 | Korean | 62,319 | 4% |
Top 10 languages spoken in NSW