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

Select data categories for this table

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 Alberta
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}	3,978,145	938,500	742,455	2,297,195
Single responses	3,889,385	891,885	713,320	2,284,175
Official languages	3,043,110	229,165	573,180	2,240,765
English	2,972,670	220,175	566,755	2,185,745
French	70,440	8,990	6,425	55,020
Non-official languages	846,275	662,720	140,135	43,415
Aboriginal languages	22,970	50	180	22,740
Non-Aboriginal languages	823,300	662,670	139,955	20,675
Afro-Asiatic languages	68,705	57,825	10,650	230
Berber languages	405	355	55	0
Kabyle	175	145	35	0
Berber languages, n.i.e.	230	210	15	0
Cushitic languages	12,435	10,415	2,020	0
Bilen	360	310	45	0
Oromo	2,615	2,205	405	0
Somali	9,425	7,855	1,565	0
Cushitic languages, n.i.e.	40	40	0	0
Semitic languages	55,750	46,950	8,570	230
Amharic	7,015	6,320	690	0
Arabic	40,695	33,385	7,085	225
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic	355	320	30	0
Chaldean Neo-Aramaic	120	110	10	0
Harari	215	160	60	0
Hebrew	1,050	935	115	10
Maltese	95	85	10	0
Tigrigna	5,915	5,385	535	0
Semitic languages, n.i.e.	295	255	40	0
Afro-Asiatic languages, n.i.e.	110	105	10	0
Austro-Asiatic languages	25,100	20,190	4,865	50
Khmer (Cambodian)	2,075	1,735	315	20
Vietnamese	23,015	18,445	4,540	30
Austro-Asiatic languages, n.i.e	10	10	0	0
Austronesian languages	115,040	110,565	4,380	100
Bikol	300	300	0	0
Cebuano	5,025	4,930	105	0
Fijian	145	140	10	0
Hiligaynon	1,595	1,550	50	0
Ilocano	5,750	5,605	140	0
Malagasy	30	35	0	0
Malay	1,310	1,275	35	0
Pampangan (Kapampangan, Pampango)	975	950	25	0
Pangasinan	305	310	0	0
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)	98,360	94,275	3,995	90
Waray-Waray	350	340	10	0
Austronesian languages, n.i.e.	895	870	20	0
Creole languages	2,120	1,960	160	0
Haitian Creole	65	55	10	0
Creole, n.o.s.	1,360	1,255	105	0
Creole languages, n.i.e.	700	650	50	0
Dravidian languages	13,490	12,250	1,240	0
Kannada	500	465	35	0
Malayalam	6,230	5,670	555	0
Tamil	4,650	4,180	470	0
Telugu	2,010	1,835	175	0
Dravidian languages, n.i.e.	105	95	0	0
Hmong-Mien languages	95	65	30	0
Indo-European languages	420,680	312,555	88,940	19,190
Albanian	2,435	2,175	260	0
Armenian	445	350	90	10
Balto-Slavic languages	79,105	53,275	19,450	6,375
Baltic languages	1,150	915	230	10
Latvian	495	385	105	0
Lithuanian	655	530	125	0
Slavic languages	77,960	52,360	19,225	6,370
Belarusan	65	50	15	0
Bosnian	2,020	1,785	235	0
Bulgarian	1,505	1,370	135	10
Croatian	4,425	3,500	875	45
Czech	2,715	2,275	435	0
Macedonian	430	345	90	0
Polish	19,780	15,355	4,275	155
Russian	17,465	14,955	2,150	360
Serbian	4,115	3,405	695	15
Serbo-Croatian	1,100	1,005	95	0
Slovak	2,275	1,735	530	15
Slovene (Slovenian)	640	535	105	10
Ukrainian	21,215	5,895	9,545	5,770
Slavic languages, n.i.e.	195	145	55	0
Celtic languages	310	285	10	20
Scottish Gaelic	90	75	0	15
Welsh	175	165	0	0
Celtic languages, n.i.e.	50	45	0	0
Germanic languages	87,570	50,495	25,090	11,980
Afrikaans	3,050	2,760	290	0
Danish	2,225	1,890	325	10
Dutch	16,005	12,670	3,100	235
Frisian	390	285	100	10
German	63,570	31,320	20,590	11,660
Icelandic	130	65	35	30
Norwegian	740	430	295	15
Swedish	785	615	150	15
Vlaams (Flemish)	340	255	75	0
Yiddish	160	85	80	0
Germanic languages, n.i.e.	165	125	40	0
Greek	3,285	2,055	1,125	110
Indo-Iranian languages	164,430	134,815	29,370	245
Indo-Aryan languages	144,440	117,410	26,785	235
Bengali	6,940	6,175	760	0
Gujarati	12,775	11,275	1,505	0
Hindi	16,495	14,295	2,160	45
Kashmiri	95	90	0	0
Konkani	325	315	10	10
Marathi	1,655	1,495	160	0
Nepali	4,995	4,640	355	0
Oriya (Odia)	215	210	0	0
Punjabi (Panjabi)	68,315	52,095	16,050	170
Sindhi	2,835	2,385	450	0
Sinhala (Sinhalese)	2,935	2,740	200	0
Urdu	26,860	21,690	5,145	20
Iranian languages	18,645	16,285	2,355	0
Kurdish	1,470	1,195	275	0
Pashto	2,340	1,900	440	0
Persian (Farsi)	14,835	13,195	1,635	10
Indo-Iranian languages, n.i.e.	1,350	1,115	235	0
Italic (Romance) languages	83,095	69,105	13,545	445
Catalan	80	75	0	0
Italian	11,475	7,625	3,710	145
Portuguese	8,565	6,950	1,585	30
Romanian	8,255	7,385	835	30
Spanish	54,685	47,040	7,405	240
Italic (Romance) languages, n.i.e.	30	30	0	0
Japanese	4,575	3,490	1,050	30
Kartvelian languages	180	165	15	0
Georgian	185	170	10	0
Korean	17,400	15,670	1,720	15
Mongolic languages	755	685	70	0
Mongolian	755	685	70	0
Niger-Congo languages	15,515	14,345	1,145	25
Akan (Twi)	1,765	1,560	200	0
Bamanankan	10	10	0	0
Edo	370	360	10	0
Ewe	215	195	25	0
Fulah (Pular, Pulaar, Fulfulde)	180	130	55	0
Ga	165	140	25	0
Ganda	330	290	40	0
Igbo	1,190	1,130	60	0
Lingala	225	220	0	0
Rundi (Kirundi)	570	525	45	0
Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)	770	725	45	0
Shona	1,150	1,080	50	15
Swahili	2,390	2,170	220	0
Wolof	325	280	50	0
Yoruba	2,525	2,440	75	10
Niger-Congo languages, n.i.e.	3,350	3,090	260	10
Nilo-Saharan languages	2,310	1,960	350	0
Dinka	1,210	1,015	195	0
Nilo-Saharan languages, n.i.e.	1,100	945	155	0
Sign languages	870	125	170	580
American Sign Language	315	25	40	245
Quebec Sign Language	0	0	0	0
Sign languages, n.i.e	565	90	130	335
Sino-Tibetan languages	121,795	99,395	22,120	285
Chinese languages	119,710	97,520	21,900	285
Cantonese	59,580	44,980	14,355	245
Hakka	940	830	110	0
Mandarin	49,990	43,860	6,110	15
Min Dong	90	80	10	0
Min Nan (Chaochow, Teochow, Fukien, Taiwanese)	3,075	2,520	545	10
Wu (Shanghainese)	700	650	50	0
Chinese, n.o.s.	5,290	4,550	725	15
Chinese languages, n.i.e.	50	50	0	0
Tibeto-Burman languages	2,085	1,875	215	0
Burmese	365	325	35	0
Karenic languages	780	710	75	0
Tibetan	710	635	75	0
Tibeto-Burman languages, n.i.e.	235	210	25	0
Tai-Kadai languages	2,575	2,390	180	10
Lao	1,075	940	140	0
Thai	1,470	1,425	40	10
Tai-Kadai languages, n.i.e	25	20	0	0
Turkic languages	3,870	3,290	580	0
Azerbaijani	360	335	20	0
Turkish	2,760	2,300	455	0
Uyghur	240	195	45	0
Uzbek	305	260	45	0
Turkic languages, n.i.e.	205	205	10	0
Uralic languages	7,540	5,140	2,270	125
Estonian	190	115	75	0
Finnish	835	495	290	50
Hungarian	6,505	4,525	1,905	80
Uralic languages, n.i.e.	0	0	0	0
Other languages, n.i.e.	670	615	30	25
Multiple responses	88,765	46,615	29,135	13,015
English and French	10,005	915	2,110	6,985
English and non-official language	74,515	42,735	26,035	5,750
French and non-official language	2,785	2,250	385	145
English, French and non-official language	1,455	715	605	135

Symbol(s)

Symbol ..

not available for a specific reference period

Symbol ...

not applicable

...

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