SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Northern Beaches

Five years. Thousands of new neighbours.

No other kind of change reshapes a council as quickly as migration. Northern Beaches's Nepali-speaking community has grown by +66% since the last census. It is only one of several.

Our population
260,531
Speak another language
47,221
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+12.1%
Our Nepali-speaking community has grown by +66% in five years. Spanish, Portuguese 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
+66%
Northern Beaches's Nepali-speaking community grew by this much between censuses, among the largest absolute increases in New South Wales.
What makes our community ours
Nepali
949 speakers

Up +66% since the last census. From 572 to 949 speakers.

Spanish
3,002 speakers

Up +39% since the last census. From 2,167 to 3,002 speakers.

Portuguese
3,475 speakers

Up +32% since the last census. From 2,625 to 3,475 speakers.

The languages of Northern Beaches

104 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.

Mandarin
3,511 · +5.8%
Portuguese
3,475 · +32.4%
Italian
3,124 · -8.0%
Spanish
3,002 · +38.5%
French
2,461 · +14.7%
German
2,202 · +1.7%
Cantonese
1,705 · -0.4%
Armenian
1,239 · +3.6%
Serbian
1,185 · +5.9%
Japanese
1,074 · +8.6%
Nepali
949 · +65.9%
Greek
866 · -2.3%
Dutch
822 · -1.6%
Tibetan
775 · +21.3%
Tagalog
724 · -7.5%
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Mandarin3,511 · 1.3%
    5.8%
  2. 02
    Portuguese3,475 · 1.3%
    32.4%
  3. 03
    Italian3,124 · 1.2%
    8.0%
  4. 04
    Spanish3,002 · 1.2%
    38.5%
  5. 05
    French2,461 · 0.9%
    14.7%
  6. 06
    German2,202 · 0.8%
    1.7%
  7. 07
    Cantonese1,705 · 0.7%
    0.4%
  8. 08
    Armenian1,239 · 0.5%
    3.6%
  9. 09
    Serbian1,185 · 0.5%
    5.9%
  10. 10
    Japanese1,074 · 0.4%
    8.6%
  11. 11
    Nepali949 · 0.4%
    65.9%
  12. 12
    Greek866 · 0.3%
    2.3%
Fastest-growing among us
Nepali
+65.9% 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Growth this fast means services designed from the 2016 census are already out of date.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
Northern Beaches
18.1%
New South Wales
31.4%
Australia
27.3%

18.1% of Northern Beaches residents speak a language other than English at home, against 31.4% for New South Wales and 27.3% nationally. Drawn from the 2021 census.