Non-official languages used at work in Canada, 2021

Release date: March 24, 2025
More information PDF version
Infographic: Non-official languages used at work in Canada, 2021
Description: Non-official languages used at work in Canada, 2021

In 2021, 669,000 Canadian workers used a language other than English or French at work, representing 3.9% of all Canadian workers.

Spanish, Mandarin and Punjabi, the three most common non-official languages in Canada, were among the non-official languages used most often at work, along with Cantonese.

Industry sectors with the largest number of workers who use a non-official language at work Table summary
The information is grouped by Industry sector (appearing as row headers), , calculated using (appearing as column headers).
Industry sector Number of workers
Health care and social assistance 74,000
Retail trade 71,000
Accomodation and food services 63,000
Number of people who used a non-official language at work and the most common industry sector where the language was used, 2021 Table summary
The information is grouped by Non-official language (appearing as row headers), , calculated using (appearing as column headers).
Non-official language Number of people Most common industry sector
Mandarin 130,000 Retail trade
Punjabi 102,000 Transportation and warehousing
Cantonese 83,000 Accommodation and food services
Spanish 81,000 Professional, scientific and technical services
Hindi 29,000 Retail trade
Tagalog 28,000 Health care and social assistance
Arabic 28,000 Retail trade
Korean 23,000 Accommodation and food services
Portuguese 19,000 Construction
Vietnamese 16,000 Accommodation and food services
German 16,000 Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
Russian 15,000 Professional, scientific and technical services
Urdu 15,000 Retail trade
Italian 15,000 Health care and social assistance
Cree languages 13,000 Health care and social assistance
Iranian PersianNote 1 12,000 Professional, scientific and technical services
Inuktitut 10,000 Public administration
Tamil 8,000 Health care and social assistance
Polish 8,000 Construction
Greek 4,000 Health care and social assistance
Ukrainian 4,000 Health care and social assistance
Gujarati 4,000 Retail trade
Hebrew 3,000 Educational services
Bengali 2,000 Professional, scientific and technical services
Romanian 2,000 Health care and social assistance

Source: Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2021.

More information

Note of appreciation

Canada owes the success of its statistical system to a long-standing partnership between Statistics Canada, the citizens of Canada, its businesses, governments and other institutions. Accurate and timely statistical information could not be produced without their continued co-operation and goodwill.

Standards of service to the public

Statistics Canada is committed to serving its clients in a prompt, reliable and courteous manner. To this end, the Agency has developed standards of service which its employees observe in serving its clients.

Copyright

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, 2025

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

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

Ottawa

Date modified: