What language is primarily spoken in Canada besides English?
Despite the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on arrivals to the country, immigration has continued to enrich Canada’s linguistic diversity.
English and French remain by far the most spoken languages in Canada. More than 9 in 10 Canadians speak one of the two official languages at home at least on a regular basis.
The 2021 Census also found that 4.6 million Canadians speak predominantly a language other than English or French at home (in other words, they speak this language most often at home, without speaking other languages equally often; see the box “Languages known and spoken: Understanding the concepts”). These individuals represent 12.7% of the Canadian population, a proportion that has been increasing for 30 years. By comparison, the proportion was 7.7% in 1991, when immigration levels were rising.