World Language Map

Languages spoken in Australia

142 living languages are mapped in Australia. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is English (96% of the population). They belong to 21 language families, the largest being Pama-Nyungan (80 languages). 4 are language isolates, with no known relatives.

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The filter only changes what is drawn. Tap the map to list every language at a spot, whichever family is shown. You can also pick any family from its own page.

Key

Language families (largest ten)

  • Atlantic-Congo
  • Austronesian
  • Sino-Tibetan
  • Indo-European
  • Afro-Asiatic
  • Nuclear Trans New Guinea
  • Otomanguean
  • Austroasiatic
  • Tai-Kadai
  • Pama-Nyungan

Everything else

  • All other families Smaller families, isolates and unclassified languages.
  • Point A language with no area map. The dot sits at its Glottolog position, in its family colour.

How to read the map. Each colour is a language family: a group of languages that share a common ancestor. The ten largest families have their own colour and every other family is grey. Areas are see-through, so where two languages share a place the colours mix. Tap anywhere to list every language whose area covers that spot. Areas are generalisations drawn from published atlases, many of them decades old, and cities are multilingual, so an area never says that everyone there speaks the language. A dot marks a language that has no area map. The family name is always given in words, because colour alone is hard to tell apart for some people.

Languages of Australia at a glance

  • 142living languages
  • 21language families
  • 26.8 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 3with a CLDR share

Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in Australia. Areas are generalisations from published atlases and overlap, and a language that is mapped here is not necessarily spoken everywhere inside its area.

The 40 most widely spoken languages in Australia

Languages with a Unicode CLDR share come first, biggest first by estimated speakers; the rest follow A to Z. Estimated speakers are the share applied to CLDR’s own population figure for the country.

LanguageFamilyShare of populationEstimated speakersStatus
EnglishIndo-European96%25,697,856Not endangered
Mandarin ChineseSino-Tibetan2.1%562,141Not endangered
ItalianIndo-European1.9%508,603Not endangered
AdnyamathanhaPama-NyunganShifting
AlawaMangarrayi-MaranNearly extinct
AlyawarrPama-NyunganThreatened
AmiWestern DalyNearly extinct
AmurdakIwaidjan ProperNearly extinct
AnindilyakwaGunwinyguanShifting
AnmatyerrePama-NyunganShifting
AntakarinyaPama-NyunganNearly extinct
Archaic AngloromaniIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
BardiNyulnyulanNearly extinct
Bininj Kun-WokGunwinyguanShifting
BunabaBunabanNearly extinct
BurarraManingridaShifting
Cocos Islands MalayAustronesianThreatened
DayiPama-NyunganNearly extinct
DhalandjiPama-NyunganNearly extinct
DhanguPama-NyunganShifting
DhuwalPama-NyunganShifting
DieriPama-NyunganMoribund
DjambarrpuynguPama-NyunganShifting
DjeebbanaManingridaShifting
DjinangPama-NyunganShifting
DjinbaPama-NyunganMoribund
DyaabugayPama-NyunganNearly extinct
DyirbalPama-NyunganNearly extinct
Eastern ArrerntePama-NyunganShifting
Eastern YiddishIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
Fiji HindiIndo-EuropeanNot endangered
GarrwaGarrwanMoribund
GooniyandiBunabanMoribund
GuguberaPama-NyunganMoribund
GumatjPama-NyunganShifting
GupapuynguPama-NyunganShifting
GuragoneManingridaNearly extinct
GurindjiPama-NyunganShifting
Gurindji KriolunclassifiedNot endangered
Guugu YimidhirrPama-NyunganMoribund

Read more: where is English spoken?

Language families in Australia

All 142 languages in Australia, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Australia comes from the overlap of Glottography and Glottolog language areas and positions with the country outline, together with the languages Glottolog assigns to the country. The shares come from Unicode CLDR release 48 and are estimates. See every source and licence.

Questions about languages in Australia

How many languages are spoken in Australia?

142 living languages are mapped in Australia, from 21 families, plus 4 language isolates. The number depends on how a catalogue decides where one language ends and another begins, so other sources give other totals.

What is the most spoken language in Australia?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, English is spoken by 96% of the population, about 25,697,856 people, followed by Mandarin Chinese (2.1%). Shares are approximate, can add up to more than 100% because many people speak several languages, and only cover languages CLDR has a figure for.

Which language families are found in Australia?

Pama-Nyungan (80 languages), Indo-European (10 languages), Western Daly (7 languages), Gunwinyguan (7 languages) and Maningrida (4 languages), and 16 more.

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