SourceTargetCommunity Atlas
We are Willoughby

We are Willoughby.

Home to one of the larger Mandarin-speaking communities in New South Wales, and 81 other language communities besides.

Our population
74,406
Speak another language
32,556
Languages at home
15+
Growth since last census
+6.7%
82 languages are spoken at home in Willoughby. Mandarin leads (9,784 speakers), with Cantonese close behind (5,804). 44 per cent of us speak a language other than English at home. That is the measure of a community that has not left its languages behind.
speak Mandarin at home
9,784
Our largest community language, Mandarin, is spoken by 13.1% of Willoughby residents at home.
What makes our community ours
Mandarin
9,784 speakers

9,784 speakers, 13.1% of Willoughby. +8% since 2021.

Cantonese
5,804 speakers

5,804 speakers, 7.8% of Willoughby. +5% since 2021.

Japanese
1,782 speakers

1,782 speakers, 2.4% of Willoughby. -1% since 2021.

The languages of Willoughby

82 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
9,784 · +8.1%
Cantonese
5,804 · +4.7%
Japanese
1,782 · -0.6%
Korean
1,745 · -29.0%
Hindi
Armenian
768
Spanish
565
Italian
540
Thai
527
Persian (excluding Dari)
509
Indonesian
502
Nepali
448
Tagalog
446
Arabic
408
Greek
374
GROWTH ≥ 50%
≥ 20%
≥ 5%
≥ 0%
≥ -10%
DECLINING
  1. 01
    Mandarin9,784 · 13.1%
    8.1%
  2. 02
    Cantonese5,804 · 7.8%
    4.7%
  3. 03
    Japanese1,782 · 2.4%
    0.6%
  4. 04
    Korean1,745 · 2.3%
    29.0%
  5. 05
    Hindi1,059 · 1.4%
    34.7%
  6. 06
    Armenian768 · 1.0%
    4.2%
  7. 07
    Spanish565 · 0.8%
    18.4%
  8. 08
    Italian540 · 0.7%
    24.4%
  9. 09
    Thai527 · 0.7%
    9.1%
  10. 10
    Persian (excluding Dari)509 · 0.7%
    0.8%
  11. 11
    Indonesian502 · 0.7%
    1.0%
  12. 12
    Nepali448 · 0.6%
    25.1%
Fastest-growing among us
Tagalog
+36.8% since last census

We publish this so our residents can see themselves counted, and so the agencies, funders and neighbours who serve us can see who we actually serve. Language access is not a translation line-item in our budget. It is how an emergency notice reaches a grandparent, how an enrolment form is understood, and how a health campaign actually lands in the suburbs that make up our council.

Our suburbs
Where we are
In context
Willoughby
43.8%
New South Wales
31.4%
Australia
27.3%

43.8% of Willoughby 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.