Increasing diversity of languages, other than English or French, spoken at home

Release date: August 17, 2022
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Infographic: Increasing diversity of languages, other than English or French, spoken at home
Description: Increasing diversity of languages, other than English or French, spoken at home

Language spoken predominantly at home.Note 1

While the number of Canadians who speak English or French predominantly at home has never been higher, their relative weight in the population has been declining since at least 2001 because of the more rapid increase of other languages.


Table 1
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 1. The information is grouped by Language (appearing as row headers), Year, calculated using 2001 and 2021 units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Language Year
2001 2021
English 66.7% 63.8%
French 21.8% 19.2%

4.6 million Canadians (12.7%) speak a language other than English or French predominantly at home

  • Up from 2001 (9.7%).
  • Strong growth in the number of Canadians who spoke a language from South Asia, as well as Mandarin, Arabic and Tagalog, predominantly at home.

Hello everyone! Ranking of languages spoken predominantly at home by the largest number of peopleNote 2


Table 2
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 2. The information is grouped by Language (appearing as row headers), Number of people (appearing as column headers).
Language Number of people
Mandarin 530,000
Punjabi (Panjabi) 520,000
Yue (Cantonese) 390,000
Spanish 320,000
Arabic 290,000
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) 280,000
Urdu 160,000
Russian 130,000
Korean 130,000
Iranian Persian 130,000
Portuguese 120,000
Vietnamese 120,000

Predominant language spoken at home among those whose mother tongue was neither English nor French


Table 3
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 3. The information is grouped by Geography (appearing as row headers), Language, calculated using French and English units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Geography Language
French English
Quebec 20.2% 15.4%
New Brunswick 2.8% 33.9%
Elsewhere in Canada 0.2% 34.5%

Proportion of individuals with a predominant language at home other than English or French


Table 4
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 4. The information is grouped by Geography (appearing as row headers), Proportion of individuals with a predominant language at home other than English or French (appearing as column headers).
Geography Proportion of individuals with a predominant language at home other than English or French
Newfoundland and Labrador 1.4%
New Brunswick 2.5%
Nova Scotia 3.8%
Yukon 5.6%
Prince Edward Island 6.0%
Quebec 7.9%
Saskatchewan 8.1%
Northwest Territories 8.3%
Manitoba 13.0%
Alberta 13.0%
Ontario 15.7%
British Columbia 17.1%
Nunavut 42.2%

Predominant home language spoken by the largest number of people for some metropolitan areasNote 2


Table 5
Table summary
This table displays the results of Table 5. The information is grouped by Metropolitan area (appearing as row headers), Language spoken most often at home by the most people  (appearing as column headers).
Metropolitan area Language spoken most often at home by the most people 
Toronto Mandarin
Vancouver Mandarin
Montréal Spanish
Calgary Punjabi (Panjabi)
Ottawa–Gatineau Arabic
Edmonton Punjabi (Panjabi)
Winnipeg Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)
Hamilton Arabic
Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo Punjabi (Panjabi)
Saskatoon Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)
Regina Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)
Kamloops Punjabi (Panjabi)
London Arabic
Halifax Mandarin
Abbotsford–Mission Punjabi (Panjabi)
Moncton Arabic
Québec Spanish
Thunder Bay Italian

For more information, please consult The Daily:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220817/dq220817a-eng.htm

Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.

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Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2022

All rights reserved. Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

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