Victoria is home to people from many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, with 27.6% of people reporting speaking a language other than English at home in the 2021 Census. This shows just how culturally diverse the population is and the degree to which different ethnic groups and nationalities are retaining their language. NAATI translators enable clear communication between our diverse communities.
So, what are the top 10 languages spoken in Victoria?
Top 10 languages spoken in Victoria
According to the 2021 Census, the Top 10 Languages Spoken in Victoria are:
Now let’s compare the 2021 Census data with the 2016 Census.
Here are the top 10 languages spoken in Victoria, excluding English.
Top 10 languages spoken in Victoria
(excluding English)
| # |
Languages |
2021 |
% change from 2016 to 2021 |
| 1 |
Mandarin |
221,798 |
+ 15.6% |
| 2 |
Vietnamese |
118,801 |
+ 14.9% |
| 3 |
Greek |
107,158 |
– 3.2% |
| 4 |
Punjabi |
104,949 |
+ 86.8% |
| 5 |
Italian |
92,320 |
– 17.8% |
| 6 |
Arabic |
91,441 |
+ 14.9% |
| 7 |
Cantonese |
82,432 |
+ 5.6% |
| 8 |
Hindi |
66,930 |
+ 30.6% |
| 9 |
Filipino / Tagalog |
52,655 |
+ 29.0% |
| 10 |
Sinhalese |
49,501 |
+ 32.3% |
Analysis of the language spoken at home by the population of Victoria 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 Victoria, the number of Punjabi speakers has 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 in Australia many decades ago and a decline in the number of Italian migrants arriving in Australia since that migration peak.
Despite that, in-language resources for Italian and Greek speakers remain important to many multicultural communications campaign strategies. This is because many of the older members of Greek and Italian-speaking communities report having lower levels of English language proficiency.
For example, did you know that 16.8% of Greek speakers in Victoria report having low English language proficiency across all age groups?
But nearly half (45.8%) of Greek speakers aged over 70 years of age in Victoria 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 to get complimentary cultural and language advice with every quote!
