The line graph illustrates the number of people in Australia who used Chinese, Arabic, Italian and Greek as their first language.
Overall, while the number of people who used Chinese and Arabic as their first language showed an upward trend throughout the period, the opposite was true for Italian and Greek. It is also evident that Arabic speakers overtook Italian speakers by the end of the period.
Focusing first on the upward trends, Chinese showed a dramatic rise, while Arabic grew gradually throughout the period. The number of Chinese and Arabic speakers started at just over 100,000 and 50,000, respectively. From 1991 to 2001, there was a sharp increase in the number of people who spoke Chinese, reaching 250,000 and overtaking both Italian and Greek speakers in Australia. Meanwhile, the number of Arabic users increased steadily by about 60,000 between 1996 and 2011, while the figure for Chinese speakers peaked at 350,000 at the end of the period.
By contrast, Italian and Greek both recorded a consistent decline over the same period. Greek was by far the most widely spoken language in 1986, with 230,000 speakers, whereas Italian ranked second with 150,000. From 1991 to 2006, there was a slight fall in both Greek and Italian speakers, to 190,000 and just over 100,000 respectively. By the end of the period, Greek remained the second most common language at approximately 180,000, while the number of Italian speakers stabilised at around 110,000.