The bar chart shows the percentage of people who spoke each of five language categories at home in one multicultural city in 2000 and 2020.
Overall, English remained the most widely spoken language at home, but its share fell considerably, while the three named minority languages all grew. The city therefore became more linguistically diverse.
In 2000 English was spoken in 72% of homes, well ahead of Spanish at 12%. By 2020 the English figure had dropped to 58%, a fall of 14 percentage points, and Spanish had risen to 17%, so it was clearly established as the second most common language.
Mandarin and Arabic also expanded, albeit from a lower base. The proportion speaking Mandarin more than doubled, from 4% to 9%, while Arabic increased from 2% to 5%, rising two and a half times. Taken together, Mandarin and Arabic accounted for 14% of homes in 2020, compared with 6% twenty years earlier.
The remaining category, other languages, was relatively stable. It stood at 10% in 2000 and 11% in 2020, and so its share barely changed.