Azizan

Persian and Dari at home in Australia: Census 2021

On Census Night, 10 August 2021, 72,498 people in Australia used Persian (excluding Dari) at home, and 29,828 used Dari (Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census 2021). The ABS counts these as separate languages, along with a third, Hazaraghi, used at home by 41,678 people. Persian was the 20th most common language used at home other than English, 0.29% of the 25.4 million people counted, and it grew by 24.3% from 58,315 in 2016, while the population grew by 8.6%. Dari was almost unchanged, at 30,437 in 2016. Two thirds of Persian users lived in New South Wales and Victoria, and 91.4% lived in the five largest capital cities. 84.8% of Persian users spoke English well or very well. The census records one language other than English per person, the one used most often at home, so these are not counts of everyone who speaks Persian or Dari, and no free published table splits them by age. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free analysis of public Australian Bureau of Statistics census data; every count comes from one named census table, and the percentages are our own arithmetic, shown in full.

Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.

The key numbers

Australia's census asks every person, of any age, whether they use a language other than English at home. The form says that if someone uses more than one language other than English, the household should "select the one that is used most often". The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) codes the answers using a classification with about 500 detailed categories, and it keeps three that are often discussed together as separate codes: Persian (excluding Dari), Dari, and Hazaraghi. It is a full count of the population, not a survey sample, though the ABS makes small random changes to every cell to protect privacy.

Among the detailed languages the ABS lists, Persian was the 20th most common language used at home other than English, just behind Indonesian (73,179) and just ahead of French (70,740). Hazaraghi ranked 36th and Dari 39th. Rankings depend a little on how the ABS draws its categories; for example, it counts Filipino and Tagalog separately.

A person who grew up in a Persian-speaking family in Sydney and now uses only English at home is recorded as "English only", and so is a child who uses only English at home. The census cannot show those people.

Three separate codes: Persian, Dari and Hazaraghi

Australia's language classification gives Persian (excluding Dari) the code 4106, Dari 4105 and Hazaraghi 4107. Each answer goes to the code the household wrote or ticked, so the split reflects what people reported, not a judgement by the census about how the languages relate. For the language background, see our page on Farsi, Persian, Dari and Tajik.

Country of birth and ancestry are separate questions, and they give different numbers again:

These are different groups of people, not the same people counted three ways. A language count includes anyone who uses it at home, wherever they were born; country of birth leaves out children born in Australia; and people can report more than one ancestry. None of these rows should be added to another.

Change since 2016

Between the 2016 and 2021 censuses, the number of people using Persian at home rose by 14,183, from 58,315 to 72,498, or 24.3%. Australia's population grew by 8.6% in the same five years, so Persian grew as a share, from 0.25% to 0.29%.

Dari was almost flat while Hazaraghi nearly doubled. The census cannot say why: the two years do not describe the same people, and the figures cannot separate new arrivals, people who left, and people who gave a different answer the second time. (The 2016 Persian figure is from the 2021 time-series table; the original 2016 table gives 58,313, two fewer, a difference of the size the privacy adjustments produce.)

For 2011, the 2021 time-series table gives 34,564 people using Persian at home, which would mean the number roughly doubled over ten years. The original 2011 community profile table gives 42,170 for the same code, which would mean a rise of about 72%, and we could not find an ABS note explaining the difference. We use the time-series table, which the ABS publishes for comparison across censuses, but treat the 2011 figure, and any ten-year growth figure, with care. The time-series table does not include Dari, so we do not compare Dari over ten years.

Where Persian and Dari users live

By state and territory:

Persian is most common in New South Wales; Dari, and Hazaraghi even more so (19,520 of 41,678, or 46.8%), in Victoria. Relative to population, Persian reached 0.34% of residents in Victoria and 0.33% in New South Wales.

For Persian, the ABS also publishes city and local-area figures. About nine in ten live in the five largest capital cities: 25,389 in Greater Sydney (35.0% of the total), 21,497 in Greater Melbourne (29.7%), 7,381 in Greater Perth (10.2%), 6,672 in Greater Brisbane (9.2%) and 5,337 in Greater Adelaide (7.4%). Those five cities hold 66,276 people, 91.4% of the total. The ten local government areas with the most Persian users were:

Brisbane tops the list mainly because its council covers 1.2 million people, far more than any Sydney or Melbourne council. By share, Manningham in Melbourne's east stands out: about 1 resident in 38 uses Persian at home. The ten areas together hold 28,617 people, 39.5% of the total. The free city and local tables do not list Dari, so we cannot give those figures for Dari.

What the census says about English

Everyone who uses a language other than English at home is asked how well they speak English. The answer is reported by the household, not tested. Table G13 publishes this split for Persian, but not for Dari or Hazaraghi.

The rest, 0.8% for Persian and 1.0% across all other languages, did not state their English. So about 85 in every 100 people who use Persian at home also speak English well, close to the average for all other languages. In England and Wales the comparable figure was lower, but the questions differ, so the two should not be compared directly.

The question measures English, not Persian. It says nothing about how well anyone speaks Persian or Dari, or whether they speak it with their children. A household that speaks English well can still keep Persian at home. The census cannot show how many children have moved to using only English at home; that one-generation pattern is described on our page on why immigrant families lose their mother tongue in one generation. For a family the practical question is how to keep Persian or Dari voices in a child's ordinary week. Azizan is one answer to that question: relatives, often grandparents in another country, record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian stories page by page, and the child can watch and listen again. For families who speak Dari, our list of Dari words for kids collects everyday words Afghan families say differently.

What the census cannot tell us

Every number on this page can be checked, and each has limits worth stating plainly.

• Language used at home, not mother tongue. The census records the language other than English used most often at home, one per person. It is not a mother-tongue question. People who grew up with Persian or Dari but now use only English at home are counted as "English only", so these figures are a floor, not a count of everyone who speaks the language.
• One language per person. If someone uses more than one language other than English, only the one used most often is recorded. If a form marks more than one, the ABS keeps the first and rejects the extra. A home that uses Persian and Dari, or Dari and Hazaraghi, appears under one of them only.
• Self-reported. The household fills in the form, often one person for everyone. Both the language and the level of English are what was reported, not tested. 5.7% of people did not answer the language question at all.
• No age split from free tables, so no count of children. The free published tables do not cross language used at home with age for Persian, Dari or Hazaraghi. That needs ABS TableBuilder, which requires an account; we did not use it, and we do not estimate. The census instructions also tell households to write "Not able to speak" for a child too young to talk, so the youngest children are not counted under any language.
• English proficiency for Persian only. The free tables give the English split for Persian but not for Dari or Hazaraghi, and give city and local-area figures for Persian but not for Dari.
• Small random adjustments. The ABS changes every cell slightly to protect privacy, so state figures add up to 72,507 rather than 72,498, and totals from different tables can differ by a few people. The 2011 figure has a larger, unexplained difference between two ABS tables, described above.
• Language, not nationality. The codes count languages. They do not say where anyone was born or what anyone's ethnicity or nationality is.
• Not comparable with the US, UK or Canada one to one. The US survey page counts people aged 5 and over by language spoken at home, from a sample with margins of error. The England and Wales page counts main language from age 3, under one category, "Persian or Farsi". The Canada page reads mother tongue and home language for children aged 0 to 14. This page counts the language used most often at home at any age, with Persian, Dari and Hazaraghi separate. The four describe different things, and adding them up or ranking the countries from them would be wrong.

Methods: how to reproduce every number

All counts were retrieved on 31 October 2026 from the ABS Data API, which needs no key, and from the ABS "Cultural diversity data summary, 2021" workbook (released 28 June 2022). In the API, Persian (excluding Dari) is language code 4106, Dari 4105 and Hazaraghi 4107. The census tables used are G13 (language used at home by proficiency in spoken English), T10 (language used at home, time series) and the 2016 table T09. Region type AUS is Australia, STE states and territories, GCCSA capital-city areas.

• Every language used at home, by state and territory, including Dari and Hazaraghi (2021, Cultural diversity data summary, Table 5; Tables 1 and 4 give country of birth and ancestry): https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021/Cultural%20diversity%20data%20summary.xlsx
• Persian by proficiency in spoken English, Australia and states (2021, G13): https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,C21_G13_SA2,1.0.0/3.4106+O_T+_T...AUS+STE.?format=csv
• The same split for five comparison languages (2021, G13): https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,C21_G13_SA2,1.0.0/3.4202+4301+3308+7104+5107+4106._T+2+3+_N..AUS.?format=csv
• Persian by Greater Capital City Statistical Area (2021, G13): https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,C21_G13_SA2,1.0.0/3.4106+_T._T..GCCSA.?format=csv
• Persian by Local Government Area (2021, G13): https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,C21_G13_LGA,1.0.0/3.4106+_T._T...?format=csv
• Persian in 2011, 2016 and 2021 on one basis (2021 time-series table T10): https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,C21_T10_SA2,1.0.0/4106+_T.3..AUS+STE.?format=csv
• Persian, Dari, Hazaraghi and Pashto in 2016 (2016 table T09): https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,ABS_C16_T09_SA,1.0.0/3.4102+4105+4106+4107+TOT..AUS+STE.?format=csv
• The original 2011 profile table (B13), for the 2011 note: https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,ABS_CENSUS2011_B13,1.0.0/3.41+4105+4106+TOT.0.AUS.0.A?format=csv
• Language codes, to confirm 4105 Dari, 4106 Persian (excluding Dari) and 4107 Hazaraghi: https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/dataflow/ABS/ABS_C16_T09_SA/1.0.0?references=all and https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/dataflow/ABS/C21_G13_SA2/1.0.0?references=all
• The census question and how answers are coded (ABS Census dictionary, LANP): https://www.abs.gov.au/census/guide-census-data/census-dictionary/2021/variables-topic/cultural-diversity/language-used-home-lanp

Rankings count the detailed languages in Table 5 without group totals or "not further defined" and "not elsewhere classified" rows. Shares are our own division of the published counts. Because the census is a full count, there are no margins of error to report. Nothing on this page is modelled or projected. Journalists and analysts who want to quote the figures can find our contact details on the press page, and the wider context is on our heritage-language market page.

Related guides

• Persian or Farsi as a main language in England and Wales: Census 2021
• Persian speakers in the US: what the American Community Survey shows
• Do Persian-speaking children in Canada still speak it at home? The 2021 Census
• Dari words for kids: everyday words Afghan families say differently

Questions

How many people speak Persian in Australia?

In the 2021 Census, 72,498 people used Persian (excluding Dari) at home, and a further 29,828 used Dari. The census records only the language other than English used most often at home, so the number who can speak Persian at all is higher, by an amount the census cannot show.

Does the Australian census count Dari separately from Persian?

Yes. The ABS codes Persian (excluding Dari) as 4106, Dari as 4105 and Hazaraghi as 4107. In 2021, 72,498 people used Persian at home, 29,828 used Dari and 41,678 used Hazaraghi.

Has the number of Persian speakers in Australia grown?

Yes. People using Persian at home rose from 58,315 in 2016 to 72,498 in 2021, an increase of 24.3%, while the population grew by 8.6%. Dari was almost unchanged, at 30,437 in 2016 and 29,828 in 2021.

Where do most Persian speakers in Australia live?

In New South Wales (26,796, or 37.0%) and Victoria (22,398, or 30.9%). Greater Sydney had 25,389 and Greater Melbourne 21,497, and the five largest capital cities together held 91.4%. By share, the local government area of Manningham in Melbourne stands out, with about 1 resident in 38 using Persian at home.

How many Persian-speaking children are there in Australia?

The free published census tables do not say. They do not split Persian or Dari by age, and a custom table would need ABS TableBuilder, which we did not use. We do not estimate the figure.

Open Azizan — record a story for your child

Updated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard

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