What does the 2021 census show?

Acknowledging that the census isn't perfect*, it has some interesting results. According to the 2021 census:

• 76,978 Indigenous Australians reported speaking an Indigenous language at home, up from 63,754 people in 2016.

• There are still over 150 Indigenous languages said to be spoken at home.

• 58.5% of Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory said they speak an Indigenous language at home.

• Maningrida had the largest number of speakers of Indigenous languages of all 'Indigenous locations' (2,198 people)

• Djambarrpuyngu, spoken in East Arnhem Land, had the 3rd largest number of speakers (3,839 people), after Yumplatok / Torres Strait Creole (7,596 people) and Kriol (7,403 people)

Check out more here:

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/language-statistics-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/2021?

*I say the census isn't perfect because it's extremely difficult to get accurate data about Indigenous languages. It's difficult to define a language, as opposed to a dialect, and people use different names for the same languages, and the same name for very different languages! Also, if you ask someone what their language is, they will often give the name of the language group they belong to (their father's language group), which is not necessarily the language they speak most, or perhaps at all. The census also only asks about 1 language spoken most often at home other than English, which is a difficult question when multilingualism is common. And then there's the fact that the whole process of asking a bunch of questions is counter-cultural and may need to be through an interpreter (who may not be available). And it's estimated that the census only captures 80% of people living in remote communities. Still, interesting!