The chart illustrates the number of people in Australia whose first language is Chinese, Arabic, Italian, or Greek. Overall, Chinese speakers represent the largest group, while Greek speakers account for the smallest proportion.
Chinese is by far the most widely spoken first language among the four, with more than one million speakers. Arabic comes second, reaching roughly 600,000 people. Italian, which was historically popular among earlier migrant communities, shows a lower figure of around 300,000 speakers. Greek is the least common, with fewer than 250,000 speakers.
It is also noticeable that while Chinese and Arabic have grown in recent years due to increased migration, Italian and Greek are gradually declining as younger generations tend to adopt English as their primary language.
In summary, the data highlights a linguistic shift in Australia, where Asian and Middle Eastern languages are becoming more dominant, whereas European languages such as Italian and Greek are losing ground.