SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Darwin

Five years. Thousands of new neighbours.

No other kind of change reshapes a council as quickly as migration. Darwin's Nepali-speaking community has grown by +166% since the last census. It is only one of several.

Our population
79,143
Speak another language
30,165
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+41.1%
Our Nepali-speaking community has grown by +166% in five years. Punjabi, Urdu are not far behind. Walk down any main street on a Saturday and you will hear four languages in as many minutes.
in five years
+166%
Darwin's Nepali-speaking community grew by this much between censuses, among the largest absolute increases in Northern Territory.
What makes our community ours
Nepali
2,434 speakers

Up +166% since the last census. From 915 to 2,434 speakers.

Punjabi
812 speakers

Up +135% since the last census. From 345 to 812 speakers.

Urdu
573 speakers

Up +116% since the last census. From 265 to 573 speakers.

The languages of Darwin

137 languages carry the conversation at home. Every one of them is spoken here.

Each block below is scaled to the number of people who speak that language at home, and tinted by how fast that community has grown since the last census.

Greek
2,642 · -5.0%
Nepali
2,434 · +166.0%
Mandarin
1,740 · +10.3%
Tagalog
1,616 · -7.0%
Filipino
1,080 · -6.3%
Malayalam
900 · +23.5%
Indonesian
898 · +10.7%
Vietnamese
868 · +65.6%
Punjabi
812 · +135.4%
Sinhalese
699 · +109.9%
Cantonese
574 · -2.2%
Urdu
573 · +116.2%
Bengali
558 · +73.8%
Hindi
533 · +12.2%
Thai
505 · +19.7%
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Greek2,642 · 3.3%
    5.0%
  2. 02
    Nepali2,434 · 3.1%
    166.0%
  3. 03
    Mandarin1,740 · 2.2%
    10.3%
  4. 04
    Tagalog1,616 · 2.0%
    7.0%
  5. 05
    Filipino1,080 · 1.4%
    6.3%
  6. 06
    Malayalam900 · 1.1%
    23.5%
  7. 07
    Indonesian898 · 1.1%
    10.7%
  8. 08
    Vietnamese868 · 1.1%
    65.6%
  9. 09
    Punjabi812 · 1.0%
    135.4%
  10. 10
    Sinhalese699 · 0.9%
    109.9%
  11. 11
    Cantonese574 · 0.7%
    2.2%
  12. 12
    Urdu573 · 0.7%
    116.2%
Fastest-growing among us
Nepali
+166.0% since last census

Growth this fast means services designed from the 2016 census are already out of date. This Atlas is our honest attempt to keep the picture current, for our own planning, for the agencies that partner with us, and for the families still arriving every year.

Our suburbs
Where we are
In context
Darwin
38.1%
Northern Territory
41.8%
Australia
27.1%

38.1% of Darwin residents speak a language other than English at home, against 41.8% for Northern Territory and 27.1% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.