Data tables, 2016 Census

Mother Tongue (187), Generation Status (4), Number of Languages known (11), Age (12) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data

Data table

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Geography Geographic index

Number of languages known (11)^{Footnote 1}

Age (12)

Sex (3)

This table details mother tongue , generation status , number of languages known , age and sex for the population in private households in Canada
Data quality
Mother tongue (187)	Generation status (4)
Mother tongue (187)	Total - Generation status^Footnote 2	First generation^Footnote 3	Second generation^Footnote 4	Third generation or more^Footnote 5
Total - Mother tongue^{Footnote 6}	34,460,060	8,219,555	6,100,725	20,139,785
Single responses	33,674,415	7,864,960	5,818,030	19,991,425
Official languages	26,414,335	2,169,085	4,570,610	19,674,640
English	19,349,060	1,835,205	4,157,920	13,355,940
French	7,065,270	333,880	412,695	6,318,700
Non-official languages	7,260,080	5,695,880	1,247,420	316,785
Aboriginal languages	192,640	650	1,660	190,330
Non-Aboriginal languages	7,067,440	5,695,225	1,245,760	126,450
Afro-Asiatic languages	574,735	494,980	79,010	750
Berber languages	22,140	19,960	2,175	0
Kabyle	13,365	11,955	1,415	0
Berber languages, n.i.e.	8,775	8,010	760	0
Cushitic languages	43,155	34,945	8,175	30
Bilen	930	840	90	0
Oromo	4,980	4,165	810	0
Somali	36,805	29,595	7,185	30
Cushitic languages, n.i.e.	435	350	85	0
Semitic languages	508,155	439,005	68,440	710
Amharic	22,000	20,230	1,745	25
Arabic	419,360	361,090	57,705	570
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	16,410	13,500	2,910	0
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic	5,410	4,635	775	0
Harari	1,165	900	265	0
Hebrew	19,340	16,420	2,805	110
Maltese	5,735	5,095	640	0
Tigrigna	16,675	15,300	1,370	0
Semitic languages, n.i.e.	2,070	1,835	230	10
Afro-Asiatic languages, n.i.e.	1,290	1,075	215	0
Austro-Asiatic languages	174,780	137,410	36,995	370
Khmer (Cambodian)	20,850	16,800	3,960	90
Vietnamese	153,775	120,490	33,005	275
Austro-Asiatic languages, n.i.e	155	125	25	10
Austronesian languages	514,715	497,290	17,175	255
Bikol	1,740	1,715	25	0
Cebuano	20,125	19,745	375	0
Fijian	795	735	60	0
Hiligaynon	7,120	6,955	165	0
Ilocano	26,640	26,050	590	10
Malagasy	1,465	1,380	85	0
Malay	12,270	11,825	435	0
Pampangan (Kapampangan, Pampango)	3,975	3,895	80	0
Pangasinan	1,435	1,435	10	0
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)	433,675	418,245	15,195	240
Waray-Waray	1,205	1,195	10	0
Austronesian languages, n.i.e.	4,270	4,120	150	0
Creole languages	72,270	68,225	3,950	95
Haitian Creole	2,760	2,640	115	0
Creole, n.o.s.	64,620	61,030	3,500	90
Creole languages, n.i.e.	4,895	4,555	335	10
Dravidian languages	188,240	159,225	28,985	30
Kannada	3,770	3,445	325	0
Malayalam	27,905	25,665	2,235	0
Tamil	140,170	114,875	25,270	25
Telugu	15,840	14,695	1,140	0
Dravidian languages, n.i.e.	555	540	15	0
Hmong-Mien languages	630	410	220	0
Indo-European languages	3,826,125	2,886,090	825,480	114,550
Albanian	26,820	23,605	3,195	15
Armenian	33,845	25,845	7,570	425
Balto-Slavic languages	693,985	521,775	145,845	26,365
Baltic languages	12,610	7,865	4,440	300
Latvian	5,610	3,585	1,870	150
Lithuanian	7,000	4,275	2,570	150
Slavic languages	681,375	513,910	141,405	26,065
Belarusan	875	745	135	0
Bosnian	12,200	10,740	1,465	0
Bulgarian	19,360	17,435	1,890	45
Croatian	48,420	35,495	12,015	915
Czech	22,195	18,925	3,180	90
Macedonian	16,710	12,355	4,265	85
Polish	179,620	138,670	39,215	1,735
Russian	186,910	162,100	21,065	3,750
Serbian	57,360	46,275	10,840	250
Serbo-Croatian	9,995	8,950	1,035	10
Slovak	17,450	13,680	3,645	125
Slovene (Slovenian)	9,730	6,975	2,670	90
Ukrainian	98,310	39,790	39,600	18,920
Slavic languages, n.i.e.	2,230	1,790	380	55
Celtic languages	2,340	1,895	180	265
Scottish Gaelic	910	585	115	210
Welsh	1,005	965	30	15
Celtic languages, n.i.e.	420	350	30	45
Germanic languages	501,930	317,470	122,475	61,985
Afrikaans	10,300	9,485	805	10
Danish	12,150	10,550	1,510	90
Dutch	96,915	79,180	15,635	2,105
Frisian	2,050	1,620	415	15
German	350,545	199,370	92,595	58,580
Icelandic	1,310	675	270	365
Norwegian	4,410	3,200	1,130	80
Swedish	6,805	5,635	1,110	65
Vlaams (Flemish)	3,500	2,755	680	65
Yiddish	13,115	4,345	8,160	605
Germanic languages, n.i.e.	830	655	175	0
Greek	106,055	61,970	38,000	6,085
Indo-Iranian languages	1,313,190	1,066,185	244,135	2,870
Indo-Aryan languages	1,065,640	847,940	214,930	2,770
Bengali	73,000	62,120	10,880	10
Gujarati	108,025	91,590	16,370	70
Hindi	109,415	95,870	13,345	200
Kashmiri	505	500	0	0
Konkani	3,285	3,140	140	0
Marathi	8,375	7,655	715	10
Nepali	17,925	16,525	1,405	0
Oriya (Odia)	1,095	1,020	70	0
Punjabi (Panjabi)	502,700	373,360	127,140	2,200
Sindhi	12,355	10,515	1,815	20
Sinhala (Sinhalese)	16,960	15,960	1,000	0
Urdu	211,995	169,690	42,060	250
Iranian languages	242,195	213,510	28,605	80
Kurdish	12,020	10,100	1,920	0
Pashto	16,335	12,415	3,920	0
Persian (Farsi)	213,850	191,005	22,765	75
Indo-Iranian languages, n.i.e.	5,350	4,730	605	15
Italic (Romance) languages	1,147,970	867,345	264,075	16,545
Catalan	815	785	30	0
Italian	375,055	227,695	134,880	12,480
Portuguese	220,970	172,900	46,530	1,535
Romanian	96,945	86,190	10,585	175
Spanish	453,530	379,355	71,860	2,315
Italic (Romance) languages, n.i.e.	650	425	190	35
Japanese	43,240	32,855	9,520	870
Kartvelian languages	1,735	1,575	160	0
Georgian	1,735	1,575	160	10
Korean	153,080	139,255	13,715	110
Mongolic languages	1,880	1,725	140	10
Mongolian	1,880	1,730	145	0
Niger-Congo languages	92,305	86,325	5,890	85
Akan (Twi)	14,145	12,475	1,655	10
Bamanankan	1,485	1,440	40	0
Edo	1,655	1,565	90	0
Ewe	1,735	1,670	65	0
Fulah (Pular, Pulaar, Fulfulde)	2,800	2,440	360	0
Ga	1,015	925	90	0
Ganda	1,245	1,170	80	0
Igbo	4,170	4,005	170	0
Lingala	3,830	3,635	185	10
Rundi (Kirundi)	5,865	5,695	175	0
Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)	5,125	4,995	125	0
Shona	3,175	3,065	95	20
Swahili	13,400	12,300	1,075	20
Wolof	3,795	3,450	340	0
Yoruba	9,225	8,835	380	10
Niger-Congo languages, n.i.e.	19,640	18,660	960	20
Nilo-Saharan languages	5,330	4,645	675	0
Dinka	1,865	1,570	295	0
Nilo-Saharan languages, n.i.e.	3,470	3,080	385	0
Sign languages	7,415	1,015	1,600	4,800
American Sign Language	2,570	265	450	1,850
Quebec Sign Language	640	30	70	540
Sign languages, n.i.e	4,195	720	1,075	2,400
Sino-Tibetan languages	1,264,615	1,070,115	191,690	2,810
Chinese languages	1,249,025	1,055,985	190,240	2,805
Cantonese	567,080	447,390	117,410	2,280
Hakka	10,775	9,265	1,510	0
Mandarin	588,945	525,585	63,015	340
Min Dong	1,070	970	100	0
Min Nan (Chaochow, Teochow, Fukien, Taiwanese)	31,390	27,690	3,625	75
Wu (Shanghainese)	13,065	12,205	855	0
Chinese, n.o.s.	36,025	32,235	3,675	115
Chinese languages, n.i.e.	685	645	45	0
Tibeto-Burman languages	15,590	14,135	1,460	0
Burmese	3,420	3,160	255	0
Karenic languages	4,280	3,825	455	0
Tibetan	6,245	5,655	595	0
Tibeto-Burman languages, n.i.e.	1,640	1,490	150	0
Tai-Kadai languages	22,220	19,585	2,580	55
Lao	12,965	10,735	2,195	35
Thai	9,185	8,780	390	15
Tai-Kadai languages, n.i.e	70	70	0	0
Turkic languages	39,820	33,660	6,115	45
Azerbaijani	3,325	3,140	180	0
Turkish	32,170	26,750	5,380	40
Uyghur	1,210	980	230	0
Uzbek	1,875	1,640	235	0
Turkic languages, n.i.e.	1,240	1,140	90	0
Uralic languages	80,895	57,650	21,660	1,585
Estonian	5,210	3,045	1,970	200
Finnish	15,045	8,745	5,510	795
Hungarian	60,620	45,845	14,185	590
Uralic languages, n.i.e.	15	20	0	0
Other languages, n.i.e.	3,415	3,180	200	35
Multiple responses	785,650	354,590	282,695	148,360
English and French	157,180	12,225	36,595	108,365
English and non-official language	513,245	276,260	203,135	33,860
French and non-official language	84,095	54,110	26,375	3,620
English, French and non-official language	31,125	12,000	16,595	2,530

Symbol(s)

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not available for a specific reference period

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not applicable

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Symbol x

suppressed to meet the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act

Symbol F

too unreliable to be published

Footnote(s)

Footnote 1

'Knowledge of official languages' refers to whether the person can conduct a conversation in English only, French only, in both or in neither language. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, this includes languages that the child is learning to speak at home.

'Knowledge of non-official languages' refers to whether the person can conduct a conversation in a language other than English or French. For a child who has not yet learned to speak, this includes languages that the child is learning to speak at home. The number of languages that can be reported may vary between surveys, depending on the objectives of the survey.

For more information on language variables, including information on their classifications, the questions from which they are derived, data quality and their comparability with other sources of data, please refer to the Languages Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2016.

Return to footnote 1 referrer

Footnote 2

For more information on generation status variables, including information on their classifications, the questions from which they are derived, data quality and their comparability with other sources of data, please refer to the Place of Birth, Generation Status, Citizenship and Immigration Reference Guide, Census of Population, 2016.

Return to footnote 2 referrer

Footnote 3

'First generation' includes persons who were born outside Canada. For the most part, these are people who are now, or once were, immigrants to Canada.

Return to footnote 3 referrer

Footnote 4

'Second generation' includes persons who were born in Canada and had at least one parent born outside Canada. For the most part, these are the children of immigrants.

Return to footnote 4 referrer

Footnote 5