Greater Manchester’s communities, and the languages they speak
Across Greater Manchester’s ten councils, 268,241 people aged 3 and over have a main language other than English, and 66,412 of them cannot speak English well or at all (Census 2021): 2.4% of residents aged 3 and over, against 1.9% across England.
45,249people whose main language is Urdu
Across the ten councils (Census 2021, residents aged 3 and over).
13,581people whose main language is Bangla (Bengali)
Across the ten councils (Census 2021, residents aged 3 and over).
19,323people whose main language is Arabic
Across the ten councils (Census 2021, residents aged 3 and over).
The languages, council by council
Main language, as the census counted it, for the languages multilingual community resources here are published in:
| Council | Urdu | Bangla (Bengali) | Arabic | French | Portuguese | Cannot speak English well or at all |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolton | 7,144 | 303 | 1,528 | 241 | 741 | 9,148 |
| Bury | 2,697 | 176 | 574 | 158 | 246 | 3,176 |
| Manchester | 17,572 | 3,367 | 10,425 | 2,117 | 3,239 | 21,432 |
| Oldham | 5,598 | 5,955 | 539 | 176 | 719 | 8,893 |
| Rochdale | 5,218 | 1,413 | 607 | 184 | 1,287 | 6,265 |
| Salford | 908 | 220 | 2,461 | 657 | 2,685 | 6,411 |
| Stockport | 1,565 | 234 | 774 | 244 | 353 | 2,399 |
| Tameside | 2,179 | 1,657 | 537 | 134 | 432 | 3,606 |
| Trafford | 2,055 | 207 | 1,298 | 271 | 330 | 2,708 |
| Wigan | 313 | 49 | 580 | 170 | 592 | 2,374 |
| Greater Manchester | 45,249 | 13,581 | 19,323 | 4,352 | 10,624 | 66,412 |
A main language is the one a person uses most at home, as the census recorded it in March 2021; many people speak several. “Cannot speak English well” is the census’s own category, answered by each household. It does not say who needs information in another language, only how many people might.
Explore
- Need, council by council: low incomes, Universal Credit, PIP and challenged PIP decisions.
- The support around them: the charities that record working with people of a particular ethnic or racial origin, in each council.
Sources
Built from public information: Census 2021 (ONS, via Nomis: TS021 ethnic group, TS024 main language, TS029 proficiency in English); the English indices of deprivation 2025 (MHCLG); the Department for Work and Pensions (Stat-Xplore); the Charity Commission for England and Wales’s register of charities. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.