Editing Demographics of Australia (section)

==Language==
{{Main|Languages of Australia}}
[[File:Rate in which the English language is spoken at home in Australia - 2016.png|thumb|341x341px|Percentage of people who speak the English language at home in 2016]]
The vast majority of Australians speak English at home, with the exception of some Aboriginal Australians and first-generation immigrants.
Although Australia has no official language, English has always been the ''[[de facto]]'' national language and the only common tongue.<ref name=language>{{cite web|url=http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/confer/04/speech18b.htm |title=Pluralist Nations: Pluralist Language Policies? |work=1995 Global Cultural Diversity Conference Proceedings, Sydney |publisher=[[Department of Immigration and Citizenship]] |access-date=11 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220020910/http://www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/multicultural/confer/04/speech18b.htm |archive-date=20 December 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy|quote=English has no de jure status, but is so entrenched as the common language that it is de facto the official language as well as the national language.}}</ref> [[Australian English]] is a major variety of the language, with a distinctive accent and lexicon,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nma.gov.au/libraries/attachments/exhibitions/vocabulary_of_australian_english/files/5471/Vocabulary%20of%20Australian%20English.pdf |title=The Vocabulary Of Australian English |last=Moore |first=Bruce |publisher=National Museum of Australia |access-date=5 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110320004658/http://www.nma.gov.au/libraries/attachments/exhibitions/vocabulary_of_australian_english/files/5471/Vocabulary%20of%20Australian%20English.pdf |archive-date=20 March 2011 |df=dmy}}</ref> and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.<ref name="Fourth Edition 2005">"The Macquarie Dictionary", Fourth Edition. The Macquarie Library Pty Ltd, 2005.</ref> [[General Australian]] serves as the standard variety.

At the 2021 census English was the only language spoken in the homes of 72% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are [[Mandarin Chinese]] (2.7%), [[Arabic language|Arabic]] (1.4%), [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] (1.3%), and [[Cantonese]] (1.2%).<ref name="auto1"/> Considerable proportions of first- and second-generation immigrants are bilingual.

Over 250 [[Indigenous Australian languages]] are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact; fewer than 20 are still in daily use by all age groups.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/08/a-mission-to-save-indigenous-languages/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224075354/http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2011/08/a-mission-to-save-indigenous-languages/|archive-date=24 December 2013|title=A mission to save indigenous languages|date=19 August 2011 |publisher=Australian Geographic|access-date=18 March 2016}}</ref><ref name=nilsr/> About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people.<ref name=nilsr>{{cite web|url=http://arts.gov.au/sites/default/files/pdfs/nils-report-2005.pdf |title=National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005 |publisher=Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts |access-date=5 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709141342/http://www.arts.gov.au/indigenous/national_indigenous_languages_survey_report_2005 |archive-date=9 July 2009 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref> At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4713.0 |title=4713.0 – Population Characteristics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2006 |work=Australian Bureau of Statistics |date=4 May 2010 |location=Canberra |access-date=7 December 2010}}</ref>

Australia has its own [[sign language]], [[Auslan]]. The Australian Bureau of Statistics included Auslan as an option for the first time in the 2021 census when asking which language was used at home.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Australia's 2021 Census is the most accessible yet for deaf and vision-impaired people |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australias-2021-census-is-the-most-accessible-yet-for-deaf-and-vision-impaired-people/ge6x05wwd |access-date=1 October 2024 |website=SBS News |language=en}}</ref><ref name="auslan">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=29 June 2022 |title=16,000 people use Auslan: Census 2021 |url=https://www.deafnessforum.org.au/census-2021-16000-people-use-auslan/ |access-date=1 October 2024 |website=Deafness Forum Australia |language=}}</ref> According to the census, it is the main language of about 16,000 deaf people.<ref name="auslan"></ref>