The line chart illustrates changes in the number of people who lived in Australia and spoke Chinese, Arabic, Italian and Greek like their first language from 1986 to 2011.
Overall, the figures for Chinese and Arabic showed various increases, the reverse was true for Italian and Greek. It was clear, Chinese increased significantly, making it the highest number among the remaining others.
There was a sharp growth in Australians who spoke in Chinese from just over 100,000 initially to 200,000 in 1996. The same year, the figure exceeded others and increased continuously, reaching a peak at 350,000 by the end of the period. Followed by, Arabic exhibited a slight increase from 50,000 in 1986 to 150,000 in 2011.
The figure for Greek had the highest number of people, at a whopping 230,000 in 1986. This figure then decreased to 2011, making it the second leader. The Italian started the second rank at 150,000 at the starting point, and then declined significantly to 110,000 in 2006. Despite this decline, it stayed the same number of people until the end.