Language – 2021 Census promotional material

Quick facts

• English is the first official language spoken by just over three in four Canadians. This proportion increased from 74.8% in 2016 to 75.5% in 2021.
• French is the first official language spoken by an increasing number of Canadians, but the proportion fell from 22.2% in 2016 to 21.4% in 2021.
• The proportion of Canadians who spoke predominantly French at home decreased in all the provinces and territories, except Yukon.
• The proportion of bilingual English–French Canadians (18.0%) remained virtually unchanged from 2016.
• In Canada, 4 in 10 people could conduct a conversation in more than one language.
• In 2021, one in four Canadians had at least one mother tongue other than English or French, and one in eight Canadians predominantly spoke predominantly a language other than English or French at home.
• In 2021, 189,000 people reported having at least one Indigenous mother tongue.
• 4.6 million Canadians speak predominantly a language other than English or French at home.
• Aside from English and French, Mandarin and Punjabi were the country's most widely spoken languages.

Resources

• The Daily - While English and French are still the main languages spoken in Canada, the country's linguistic diversity continues to grow

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Language tile (JPG, 103 KB)

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