Mnemonic: main_language_detailed
Applicability: Person
Type: Derived variable
Definition
A person's first or preferred language.
This breaks down the responses given in the write-in option "Other, write in (including British Sign Language)".
Classification
Total number of categories: 95
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 | English (English or Welsh in Wales) |
| 2 | Welsh or Cymraeg (in England only) |
| 3 | Other UK language: Gaelic (Irish) |
| 4 | Other UK language: Gaelic (Scottish) |
| 5 | Other UK language: Manx Gaelic |
| 6 | Other UK language: Gaelic (Not otherwise specified) |
| 7 | Other UK language: Cornish |
| 8 | Other UK language: Scots |
| 9 | Other UK language: Ulster Scots |
| 10 | Other UK language: Romany English |
| 11 | Other UK language: Irish Traveller Cant |
| 12 | French |
| 13 | Portuguese |
| 14 | Spanish |
| 15 | Other European language (EU): Italian |
| 16 | Other European language (EU): German |
| 17 | Other European language (EU): Polish |
| 18 | Other European language (EU): Slovak |
| 19 | Other European language (EU): Czech |
| 20 | Other European language (EU): Romanian |
| 21 | Other European language (EU): Lithuanian |
| 22 | Other European language (EU): Latvian |
| 23 | Other European language (EU): Hungarian |
| 24 | Other European language (EU): Bulgarian |
| 25 | Other European language (EU): Greek |
| 26 | Other European language (EU): Dutch |
| 27 | Other European language (EU): Swedish |
| 28 | Other European language (EU): Danish |
| 29 | Other European language (EU): Finnish |
| 30 | Other European language (EU): Estonian |
| 31 | Other European language (EU): Slovenian |
| 32 | Other European language (EU): Maltese |
| 33 | Other European language (EU): Any other European language (EU) |
| 34 | Other European language (non EU): Albanian |
| 35 | Other European language (non EU): Ukrainian |
| 36 | Other European language (non EU): Any other Eastern European language (non EU) |
| 37 | Other European language (non EU): Northern European language (non EU) |
| 38 | Other European language (EU and non-EU): Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin |
| 39 | Other European language (non-national): Any Romani language |
| 40 | Other European language (non-national): Yiddish |
| 41 | Russian |
| 42 | Turkish |
| 43 | Arabic |
| 44 | West or Central Asian language: Hebrew |
| 45 | West or Central Asian language: Kurdish |
| 46 | West or Central Asian language: Persian or Farsi |
| 47 | West or Central Asian language: Pashto |
| 48 | West or Central Asian language: Any other West or Central Asian language |
| 49 | South Asian language: Urdu |
| 50 | South Asian language: Hindi |
| 51 | South Asian language: Panjabi |
| 52 | South Asian language: Pakistani Pahari (with Mirpuri and Potwari) |
| 53 | South Asian language: Bengali (with Sylheti and Chatgaya) |
| 54 | South Asian language: Gujarati |
| 55 | South Asian language: Marathi |
| 56 | South Asian language: Telugu |
| 57 | South Asian language: Tamil |
| 58 | South Asian language: Malayalam |
| 59 | South Asian language: Sinhala |
| 60 | South Asian language: Nepalese |
| 61 | South Asian language: Any other South Asian language |
| 62 | East Asian language: Mandarin Chinese |
| 63 | East Asian language: Cantonese Chinese |
| 64 | East Asian language: All other Chinese |
| 65 | East Asian language: Japanese |
| 66 | East Asian language: Korean |
| 67 | East Asian language: Vietnamese |
| 68 | East Asian language: Thai |
| 69 | East Asian language: Malay |
| 70 | East Asian language: Tagalog or Filipino |
| 71 | East Asian language: Any other East Asian language |
| 72 | Oceanic or Australian language |
| 73 | North or South American language |
| 74 | Caribbean Creole: English-based Caribbean Creole |
| 75 | Caribbean Creole: Any other Caribbean Creole |
| 76 | African language: Amharic |
| 77 | African language: Tigrinya |
| 78 | African language: Somali |
| 79 | African language: Krio |
| 80 | African language: Akan |
| 81 | African language: Yoruba |
| 82 | African language: Igbo |
| 83 | African language: Swahili or Kiswahili |
| 84 | African language: Luganda |
| 85 | African language: Lingala |
| 86 | African language: Shona |
| 87 | African language: Afrikaans |
| 88 | African language: Any other Nigerian language |
| 89 | African language: Any other West African language |
| 90 | African language: Any other African language |
| 91 | Sign language: British Sign Language |
| 92 | Sign language: Any other sign language |
| 93 | Sign language: Any sign communication system |
| 94 | Other language |
| -8 | Does not apply* |
*Students and schoolchildren living away during term-time, and children aged 2 years and under.
View all main language (detailed) classifications.
Background
Read about how we developed and tested the questions for Census 2021.
Comparability with the 2011 Census
Highly comparable
What does highly comparable mean?
A variable that is highly comparable means that it can be directly compared with the variable from the 2011 Census. The questions and options that people could choose from may be slightly different, for example the order of the options may be swapped around, but the data collected is the same.
England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland comparisons
Broadly comparable
The main languages included in the variable for England and Wales differ from those included in variables produced by Scotland and Northern Ireland.
What does broadly comparable mean?
A variable that is broadly comparable means that outputs from Census 2021 in England and Wales can generally be compared with Scotland and Northern Ireland. Differences in how the data were collected or presented may reduce the ability to fully harmonise on outputs, but some harmonisation is still expected.
Find out more about variables produced for Census 2021 in Northern Ireland and Census 2022 in Scotland.
Census 2021 data that uses this variable
We use variables from Census 2021 data to show findings in different ways.
You can:
Alternatively, you can also create a custom dataset.