Azizan
Persian or Farsi as a main language in England and Wales: Census 2021
On Census Day, 21 March 2021, 87,713 usual residents aged 3 and over in England and Wales gave Persian or Farsi as their main language (Office for National Statistics, Census 2021, table TS024). That is 0.15% of the 57.7 million people the question covers, and up by 11,322, or 14.8%, from 76,391 in 2011, while the population aged 3 and over grew by 6.9%. Persian or Farsi was the 18th most common main language other than English. London held 39,233 of these residents, 44.7%, and the borough of Barnet alone held 8,442, about 1 in 44 of its residents aged 3 and over. The census asks for one main language per person, not every language spoken at home, so this is a floor, not a count of everyone who speaks Persian. It covers England and Wales only. In 2021, 72.5% of them spoke English well or very well, below the 79.7% for everyone whose main language was not English, and 8,365 were children aged 3 to 14 (ONS ad hoc table CT21_0418). 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 Office for National 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
The census of England and Wales asks everyone aged 3 and over for their main language, which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) defines as "a person's first or preferred language". Anyone whose main language is not English (or, in Wales, English or Welsh) is then asked how well they speak English. Table TS024 sorts the answers into 94 detailed language categories, one of which is "Persian or Farsi". It is a full count of the population, not a survey sample, so the figures have no margins of error, though the ONS makes small deliberate changes to some counts to protect privacy.
| Census 2021, usual residents aged 3+ | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Main language Persian or Farsi, England and Wales | 87,713 | 0.15% of 57,704,270 |
| of whom in England | 86,277 | 98.4% |
| of whom in Wales | 1,436 | 1.6% |
| Main language Persian or Farsi in 2011, for comparison | 76,391 | 0.14% of 53,961,451 |
| All residents whose main language is not English (English or Welsh in Wales) | 5,134,447 | 8.9% |
The 87,713 are people for whom Persian is the main language. Someone who grew up in an Iranian family in London and now speaks English most of the time will usually give English, and so will a child of Persian-speaking parents who speaks English at school, even if the family speaks Persian at the dinner table. Those people are in the 52.6 million with English as their main language, and the census has no way to show them.
Change since 2011
The ONS describes the 2021 main-language variable as highly comparable with the 2011 Census. Over the decade, the number of residents with Persian or Farsi as their main language rose by 11,322, from 76,391 to 87,713, or 14.8%. The population aged 3 and over grew by 6.9% in the same period, so Persian rose slightly as a share, from 0.14% to 0.15%. Next to five other main languages often heard alongside Persian, that growth was among the slowest; only Turkish grew less:
| Main language, England and Wales, 3+ | 2011 | 2021 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | 159,290 | 203,998 | +28.1% |
| Turkish | 99,423 | 112,978 | +13.6% |
| Russian | 67,366 | 91,255 | +35.5% |
| Persian or Farsi | 76,391 | 87,713 | +14.8% |
| Kurdish | 48,239 | 66,443 | +37.7% |
| Pashto | 40,277 | 48,705 | +20.9% |
In 2011 more residents had Persian as their main language than Russian; by 2021 Russian was slightly ahead. Among all main languages other than English in 2021, Persian or Farsi ranked 18th, just behind Russian (91,255) and just ahead of Hungarian (87,356). One category ranked above it, "All other Chinese", groups several languages together, so the ranking depends a little on how the ONS draws its categories. The census cannot say how much of the change comes from new arrivals and how much from people who already lived here and changed their answer, for example by now giving English as their main language.
Where Persian speakers live
Nearly half live in London. By region:
| Region | Main language Persian or Farsi, 3+ | Share of England and Wales total | Share of the region's residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 39,233 | 44.7% | 0.46% |
| North West | 11,028 | 12.6% | 0.15% |
| West Midlands | 8,643 | 9.9% | 0.15% |
| South East | 7,930 | 9.0% | 0.09% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 6,255 | 7.1% | 0.12% |
| East of England | 4,193 | 4.8% | 0.07% |
| East Midlands | 3,563 | 4.1% | 0.08% |
| North East | 3,240 | 3.7% | 0.13% |
| South West | 2,192 | 2.5% | 0.04% |
| Wales | 1,436 | 1.6% | 0.05% |
At the level of the 331 local authorities, the ten with the most residents whose main language is Persian or Farsi were:
| Local authority | Main language Persian or Farsi, 3+ | Share of the area's residents | Share of England and Wales total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnet (London) | 8,442 | 2.25% | 9.6% |
| Birmingham | 4,143 | 0.38% | 4.7% |
| Ealing (London) | 3,807 | 1.07% | 4.3% |
| Harrow (London) | 2,716 | 1.08% | 3.1% |
| Brent (London) | 2,636 | 0.80% | 3.0% |
| Manchester | 2,580 | 0.49% | 2.9% |
| Hounslow (London) | 2,496 | 0.90% | 2.8% |
| Leeds | 2,297 | 0.29% | 2.6% |
| Hillingdon (London) | 2,193 | 0.75% | 2.5% |
| Enfield (London) | 1,527 | 0.48% | 1.7% |
The ten together hold 32,837 people, 37.4% of the national total, and seven of them are outer London boroughs, mostly in the north and west. Barnet stands out: one borough holds nearly a tenth of everyone in England and Wales with Persian as their main language, and in Barnet that is about 1 resident in 44. Outside London, the largest numbers are in the big cities of the Midlands and the north: Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. The local-authority figures add up to 87,704 rather than 87,713 because of the ONS's small privacy adjustments.
What the census says about English
The census asks people whose main language is not English how well they speak English. The standard 2021 tables group Persian with Kurdish, Pashto, Hebrew and others as "West or Central Asian languages", but in September 2025 the ONS published an ad hoc table, CT21_0418, that gives 67 main languages, Persian or Farsi among them, by English proficiency and by age for England and Wales as a whole. Its totals differ from TS024 by a few people because of the privacy adjustments.
| Census 2021, main language not English, 3+ | Total | Speak English very well or well | Cannot speak English well or at all |
|---|---|---|---|
| Persian or Farsi | 87,713 | 63,599 (72.5%) | 24,114 (27.5%) |
| Arabic | 203,999 | 77.2% | 22.8% |
| Russian | 91,258 | 82.7% | 17.3% |
| Kurdish | 66,440 | 72.6% | 27.4% |
| Pashto | 48,707 | 76.2% | 23.8% |
| Turkish | 112,975 | 67.5% | 32.5% |
| All main languages other than English | 5,134,458 | 79.7% | 20.3% |
So in 2021 about seven in ten residents with Persian as their main language spoke English well or very well, below the average of about eight in ten. Of the 27.5% who did not, most (21,093, or 24.0% of the total) said they could not speak English well and 3,021 (3.4%) said they could not speak it at all. The same table counts 8,365 children aged 3 to 14 with Persian or Farsi as their main language, 9.5% of the 87,713; across all residents aged 3 and over, children aged 3 to 14 are 14.7%.
The 2011 Census published the same split for Persian (table DC2210EWr), with the same two answer groups:
| Census 2011, main language not English, 3+ | Total | Speak English very well or well | Cannot speak English well or at all |
|---|---|---|---|
| Persian or Farsi | 76,391 | 60,221 (78.8%) | 16,170 (21.2%) |
| Arabic | 159,290 | 82.4% | 17.6% |
| Russian | 67,366 | 82.3% | 17.7% |
| Kurdish | 48,239 | 76.4% | 23.6% |
| Pashto | 40,277 | 74.6% | 25.4% |
| Turkish | 99,423 | 69.9% | 30.1% |
| All main languages other than English | 4,153,266 | 79.2% | 20.8% |
In 2011 Persian speakers were close to the average for everyone whose main language was not English, at 78.8% against 79.2%. By 2021 the Persian share had fallen to 72.5% while the average stayed at about 79.7% (table TS029 gives the same 79.7% for all 5,134,447 residents whose main language was not English). The census cannot say why. The two years do not describe the same people: new arrivals join the count, and people who become fluent in English may start giving English as their main language and leave it.
The question measures English, not Persian. It says nothing about how well anyone speaks Persian, or whether they speak it with their children. The point that matters for families is the one in the key numbers: people who are fluent in English, including most children raised here, tend to give English as their main language, and then they drop out of the Persian count altogether. That is the pattern 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 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.
What the census cannot tell us
Every number on this page can be checked, and each has limits worth stating plainly.
- Main language, not home language. The question records one first or preferred language per person. People who speak Persian at home but English most of the time are counted under English, so 87,713 is a floor for Persian speakers, not a total.
- Only people aged 3 and over. Children aged 2 and under are not asked the language question, so the youngest children hearing Persian at home are not in any of these figures.
- Age and English proficiency come from one ad hoc table. The 2021 figures for Persian by age and by English proficiency come from ONS ad hoc table CT21_0418, which covers England and Wales as a whole, not regions or local authorities. The 2011 proficiency figures are for comparison only and do not describe 2021.
- England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own censuses. Northern Ireland's was also held on 21 March 2021, but Scotland's was moved to 20 March 2022. None of their residents are in this table, which is why this page does not say "UK".
- Taken during the pandemic. Census Day was 21 March 2021, during coronavirus restrictions. The ONS notes that the pandemic may have affected where some people counted as living, especially students, and that some changes in the top languages since 2011 may partly reflect students who were away from their term-time address or overseas.
- Persian or Farsi, not Iranian. The category counts a language, not a nationality or ethnicity. It includes Persian speakers of any origin, and the published table does not say how answers such as Dari or Tajik were coded. None of these figures is an Iranian-only count.
- Small privacy adjustments. The ONS swaps some records between nearby areas and changes some small counts slightly, so totals from different tables or geographies can differ by a few people.
- Not comparable with the US 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 Canada page reads mother tongue and home language for children aged 0 to 14. This page counts main language from age 3. The three describe different things, and adding them up or ranking the countries from them would be wrong.
Methods: how to reproduce every number
All counts except those from ad hoc table CT21_0418 (downloaded from the ONS website) were retrieved on 31 October 2026 from Nomis, the ONS's official labour market and census data service, whose API needs no key. In table TS024 (Nomis dataset NM_2043_1), Persian or Farsi is code 46 of the dimension c2021_mlang_94, and code 0 is the total of usual residents aged 3 and over. Geography 2092957703 is England and Wales, 2092957699 England and 2092957700 Wales.
- National counts for every language, England and Wales, England and Wales separately (2021, TS024):
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_2043_1.data.csv?date=latest&geography=2092957703,2092957699,2092957700&c2021_mlang_94=0...94&measures=20100 - Regions, Persian and total (2021):
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_2043_1.data.csv?date=latest&geography=2092957703TYPE480&c2021_mlang_94=0,46&measures=20100 - Local authorities, Persian and total (2021, 331 areas):
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_2043_1.data.csv?date=latest&geography=2092957703TYPE154&c2021_mlang_94=0,46&measures=20100 - Language category codes, to confirm that code 46 is "Persian or Farsi":
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_2043_1/c2021_mlang_94.def.sdmx.json - The same local-authority table straight from the ONS, as a cross-check:
https://download.ons.gov.uk/downloads/datasets/TS024/editions/2021/versions/3.csv - 2011 baseline (QS204EW):
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_525_1.data.csv?date=latest&geography=2092957703&rural_urban=0&cell=0,49&measures=20100 - 2011 main language by proficiency in English (DC2210EWr):
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_765_1.data.csv?date=latest&geography=2092957703&main_language=0,43,44,45,48,49,50&proficiency_in_english=0...3&measures=20100 - 2021 proficiency in English, all residents (TS029):
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/api/v01/dataset/NM_2048_1.data.csv?date=latest&geography=2092957703&measures=20100 - 2021 main language (67 categories) by proficiency in English by age, England and Wales, ONS ad hoc table CT21_0418:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/adhocs/3005ct210418census2021 - The finest 2021 language-by-proficiency cross-tab the ONS custom-dataset API offers (it stops at "West or Central Asian languages"):
https://api.beta.ons.gov.uk/v1/population-types/UR/census-observations?area-type=nat,K04000001&dimensions=main_language_detailed_26a,english_proficiency
Rankings count the 94 detailed language categories without the group totals. 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 speakers in the US: what the American Community Survey shows
- Do Persian-speaking children in Canada still speak it at home? The 2021 Census
- The heritage-language family market
- Why immigrant families lose their mother tongue in one generation: the data
Questions
How many people speak Persian in the UK?
No single figure covers the whole UK, because Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate censuses. In England and Wales, the 2021 Census counted 87,713 usual residents aged 3 and over whose main language was Persian or Farsi (ONS table TS024). That counts only people for whom Persian is the main language, so the number who speak Persian at all is higher, by an amount the census cannot show.
Has the number of Persian speakers in England and Wales grown since 2011?
Yes. Residents with Persian or Farsi as their main language rose from 76,391 in 2011 to 87,713 in 2021, an increase of 11,322 or 14.8%, while the population aged 3 and over grew by 6.9%. Kurdish, Russian, Arabic and Pashto grew faster; Turkish grew at about the same rate.
Where do most Persian speakers in England live?
In London: 39,233 of the 87,713, or 44.7%. The local authority with the most is the London Borough of Barnet, with 8,442, followed by Birmingham (4,143), Ealing (3,807), Harrow (2,716) and Brent (2,636). In Barnet, about 1 in 44 residents aged 3 and over has Persian as their main language.
How well do Persian speakers in England and Wales speak English?
In the 2021 Census, 72.5% of residents with Persian or Farsi as their main language spoke English well or very well, below the 79.7% for everyone whose main language was not English (ONS ad hoc table CT21_0418). In 2011 the Persian figure was 78.8%, close to the average of 79.2%.
How many Persian-speaking children are there in England and Wales?
The 2021 Census counted 8,365 children aged 3 to 14 in England and Wales whose main language was Persian or Farsi, 4,917 of them aged 3 to 9 (ONS ad hoc table CT21_0418). That is not the number of children who speak Persian: children under 3 are not asked, and many children of Persian-speaking parents are recorded with English as their main language.
Open Azizan — record a story for your childUpdated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard
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