Census 2021 reports Punjabi as the fastest growing language in Australia

The Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data states that out of 239K Punjabi speakers, more than 209K are from the Sikh religion.

Dear Supporters,

With the support of an awareness campaign initiative taken by UNITED SIKHS and various other Sikh organizations in partnership with Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) since 10 August 2021, the census has finally reflected appropriate results.

The campaign was aimed at creating responsiveness within the Sikh community and Sikh organizations about the importance of filling up ABS forms correctly in a way that appropriately represents the identity, religion, language and ancestry of Sikhs in order to achieve an independent choice box as it was not previously offered.

Following a tireless campaign by Sikh community organizations and UNITED SIKHS, we have deservedly earned a recognition of our language, and religion to be expressly written in an autonomous choice box when filling up governmental forms. SIKHISM as religion and PUNJABI as a language are now autonomous  choicebox and integrated in Australian government forms.

“We have been working in partnership with Australia Bureau  of Statistics (ABS) since 2016 to create awareness within the Sikh community and Sikh organizations about the importance of filling up ABS forms correctly by writing in ‘others column’ as it was not offered as a choice box: Religion as SIKHISM
Ancestry as SIKH & Language spoken other than English as PUNJABI.This awareness campaign grew with many Sikh organizations and Sangat in Victoria and even other states in Australia continued promoting the awareness into the 10 August 2021 ABS Census. We are glad and proud to know that in the latest 2021 ABS stats, the Punjabi language had the largest increase to 239,033 people using it at home. Sikhism is among the top 5 religions outside of Christianity,” said Jasbir Singh Suropada, Chairperson, Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria.

We are delighted to share the empirical evidence of the fact that Punjabi has become the fastest growing language in Australia compared to other languages. Results of the Census 2021 released on Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the biggest beneficiaries of Australia’s linguistic diversity have been the Punjabi-speaking community.

According to the report, the number of Punjabi speakers has increased by 80 per cent to more than 239,000 in the last five years. Of over 239,000 Punjabi speakers in Australia , more than 209,000 are Sikhs.

“Australia’s linguistic diversity is growing as the number of people using a language other than English at home has increased by nearly 800,000 since 2016 to 5.5 million (5,663,709).The number of sikhs in Australia has mounted to 2,10,000, especially in Victoria as compared to New South Wales from earlier. The census also reports 1,12,000 males and 97,000 women among Sikhs. Surprisingly the number of Chritianns in Australia has shown a decline in number” , said Harkirat Singh, Advocacy Coordinator, UNITED SIKHS

The number of  Punjabis who live in Victoria is 10,4949; followed by 53,460 in New South Wales, 30,873 in Queensland, 20,613 in Western Australia, 20,004 in South Australia, 20,004 in Canberra, 5,019 in Tasmania, 2,556 in the Northern Territory and 1,563 in the Northern Territory.

The Punjabi language has been spoken on Australian soil for more than 150 years. There are records of evidence including Australian documents that were written in Punjabi from as early as the late 1800s. These include a petition for equal rights written and signed in the Punjabi language in 1898 by about 100 Sikh community members of Australia.

“We are extremely rejoiced with  the reports of Punjabi continuing  to be the fastest-growing language in Australia. Also, we are  exceedingly  proud that the good work engrafted by Sikh initiators  about a century ago has  now burgeoned. Collective effort is a must to save our language and culture. We stand tall today taking extreme pride in ‘Ma Boli Punjabi’. No culture that doesn’t love its language has ever survived.” said Gurvinder Singh, National Director Australia, UNITED SIKHS.

Manvinder Singh

Advocacy Director

International Civil & Human Rights Adcvocay- ICHRA

Recognize the Human Race as One