Australia's Culturally Diverse Communities

The term 'culturally and linguistically diverse' is often used to broadly describe communities with diverse language groups, ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, and religions (2). Children and young people (and their families) from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds often face greater challenges across a range of health and wellbeing indicators, including language barriers, developmental vulnerability, and limited access to essential resources (3).

In the Atlas, data has not been disaggregated by cultural or ethnic group. The process of disaggregating data by culturally and linguistically diverse communities presents several challenges. It is not always possible to identify culturally or linguistically diverse people in data because cultural and linguistic diversity is a complex concept, the relevant information is not always systematically recorded, and/or the number of populations are too small to report at more granular levels (4).

However, the Atlas contains relevant several indicators of cultural and language diversity within the ‘Identity and Culture’ theme, including country of birth and children and young people who speak a language other than English at home.