Do You Know The Most Commonly Spoken Languages in Mississauga?

We all know Mississauga is an incredibly multicultural and diverse city filled with residents from all over the world, but did you know what languages are most commonly spoken in our bustling city of 700,000+ people?

According to Statistics Canada, 47.6 per cent of Mississauga residents identify English as their first language/mother tongue (a slight decrease from 48.5 per cent in 2006). French is an uncommon native language in the city, with only 1 per cent of residents reporting it as their mother tongue. Almost half of all residents (47 per cent) reported that a non-official language was their first language (a decline from 47.7 per cent in 2006). 4.3 per cent of the population (2.6 per cent in 2006) indicated that they speak multiple languages with English and/or French as their mother tongue.

To put things in perspective, 56.9 per cent of all Canadians identify English as their mother tongue and 19.8 per cent of Canadians say their native language is not one of the country’s official languages.

So, what other languages are most commonly spoken in Mississauga?

• Chinese languages (5.5 per cent)
• Urdu (4.9 per cent)
• Polish (4.1 per cent)
• Punjabi (3.2 per cent)
• Arabic (3.1 per cent)
• Tagalog (2.8 per cent)
• Portuguese (2.5 per cent)
• Spanish (2.2 per cent)
• Italian (2 per cent
• Tamil (1.4 per cent)

In Canada, the top five most commonly spoken languages after English and French are Chinese languages, Punjabi, Spanish, German and Italian. In Ontario, the most common languages after English and French are Chinese languages, Italian, Spanish, Punjabi and Portuguese.

In terms of what language Mississauga residents speak at home, StatsCan found a ton of variety in the city’s many households.

• Chinese Languages (4.1 per cent)
• Urdu (3.1 per cent)
• Polish (2.5 per cent)
• Punjabi (2.2 per cent)
• Arabic (1.8 per cent)
• Spanish (1.4 per cent)
• Tagalog (1.3 per cent)
• Portuguese (1.1 per cent)
• Tamil (1 per cent)
• Vietnamese (1 per cent)

To give a hard number, 334,060 Mississauga residents identify a language other than English or French as their mother tongue.

So, did the results surprise you?

All graphics courtesy of StatsCan