Table 1
Population by language spoken most often at home, immigrant languages1 spoken by at least 100,000 people in 2011 or 2016, Canada, 2011 and 2016
Number – 2011 | Rank – 2011 | Number – 2016 | Rank – 2016 | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese languages | ||||
Mandarin2 | 276,795 | 9 | 641,100 | 1 |
Cantonese2 | 414,570 | 4 | 594,705 | 2 |
Chinese n.o.s.3 | 415,565 | 3 | 36,340 | 30 |
Punjabi | 480,050 | 2 | 568,375 | 3 |
Spanish | 493,055 | 1 | 553,495 | 4 |
Tagalog (Pilipino) | 389,160 | 6 | 525,375 | 5 |
Arabic | 395,420 | 5 | 514,200 | 6 |
Italian | 357,120 | 7 | 318,245 | 7 |
German | 281,020 | 8 | 271,865 | 8 |
Urdu | 211,550 | 10 | 264,505 | 9 |
Persian (Farsi) | 177,585 | 12 | 225,015 | 10 |
Portuguese | 205,475 | 11 | 213,025 | 11 |
Russian | 170,295 | 13 | 194,305 | 12 |
Hindi | 138,365 | 18 | 174,480 | 13 |
Tamil | 155,050 | 16 | 171,470 | 14 |
Vietnamese | 159,250 | 15 | 169,440 | 15 |
Polish | 168,260 | 14 | 158,990 | 16 |
Korean | 141,615 | 17 | 157,225 | 17 |
Gujarati | 104,390 | 20 | 124,030 | 18 |
Greek | 117,570 | 19 | 114,910 | 19 |
Source(s):
Statistics Canada, Census of Population, 2011 and 2016.
Table note 1
"Immigrant languages" refer to languages (other than English and French) whose existence in Canada is originally due to immigration. This expression excludes Aboriginal languages and sign languages, in addition to English and French.
Table note 2
The increase of Mandarin and Cantonese is due in large part to changes to data collection. New instructions in the electronic questionnaire, asking respondents to indicate the Chinese language spoken at home, as applicable, resulted in a sharp increase in certain Chinese languages, particularly Mandarin and Cantonese.
Table note 3
The abbreviation n.o.s. means "not otherwise specified".
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