Statistics
Cantonese speakers statistics 2026: official figures by market
TL;DR: Hong Kong's 2021 census counted 6,328,947 people aged 5 and over, or 88.2%, whose usual spoken language is Cantonese. Canada counted 724,925 people who can speak Cantonese, Australia 295,281 who use it at home, and England and Wales 55,555 with Cantonese as their main language. Surfio, which sells Cantonese call answering, took each figure from the statistics office's own table on 14 September 2026, and each one measures something different.
Report highlights
- Hong Kong, 2021: 88.2% of people aged 5 and over use Cantonese as their usual spoken language, down from 89.5% in 2011. 93.7% can speak it.
- Canada, 2021: 724,925 people can speak Cantonese. Only 393,430 speak it most often at home.
- Canada, 2021: Cantonese speakers average 50 years of age, against 39 for Mandarin speakers.
- Australia, 2021: 295,281 people use Cantonese at home, up from 280,947 in 2016.
- England and Wales, 2021: 55,555 residents give Cantonese as their main language, against 30,820 for Mandarin.
- United States, 2009 to 2013: 458,840 people speak Cantonese at home, and 257,625 of them speak English less than "very well".
- Singapore, 2020: 48.5% of residents who mainly speak Cantonese at home are 65 or older, against 15.0% of all residents in the same table.
Cantonese speakers by market: the resolved figures
Each row gives one figure, exactly what it counts, and the table it comes from. Full links are listed under Sources at the foot of the page.
| Market | Figure | Exactly what it measures | Year | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong | 6,328,947 people (88.2%) | Usual spoken language is Cantonese; population aged 5 and over, excluding mute persons | 2021 | C&SD, 2021 Population Census Summary Results, Table 2.7 |
| Hong Kong | 93.7% | Able to speak Cantonese, as usual language (88.2%) or as another language (5.5%); aged 5 and over | 2021 | C&SD, Table 2.8 |
| Canada | 724,925 | Knowledge of Cantonese: can hold a conversation in it; population in private households; 25% sample data | 2021 | Statistics Canada, Census Profile 98-401-X2021001 |
| Canada | 553,380 | Mother tongue is Yue (Cantonese); total population excluding institutional residents; 100% data | 2021 | Statistics Canada, Census Profile |
| Canada | 393,430 | Cantonese is the language spoken most often at home; 100% data | 2021 | Statistics Canada, Census Profile |
| Canada | 50,950 | Cantonese is the language used most often at work; workers aged 15 and over in private households; 25% sample data | 2021 | Statistics Canada, Census Profile |
| Australia | 295,281 (1.2%) | Cantonese used at home; all people, by place of usual residence | 2021 | ABS, 2021 Census QuickStats, Australia |
| England and Wales | 55,555 (0.1%) | Main language is Cantonese Chinese; usual residents aged 3 and over; one main language per person | 2021 | ONS, Census 2021 table TS024, via Nomis |
| United States | 458,840 | Speaks Cantonese at home; population aged 5 and over; five-year estimate, margin of error plus or minus 6,487 | 2009 to 2013 | US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Detailed Languages Table 1 |
| Singapore | 79,216 | Cantonese is the language most frequently spoken at home; residents aged 5 and over, excluding persons unable to speak and one-person and unrelated-person households | 2020 | SingStat Table Builder, Census of Population 2020, table 17434 |
Why can't these figures be added into one total?
Each statistics office asks a different question. Hong Kong asks for the usual spoken language, Canada asks what people can speak, Australia asks what is used at home, and England and Wales asks for one main language. Adding the rows would double count some people and miss others entirely, so Surfio gives no combined number.
The gap inside Canada shows the effect. The same 2021 census gives 724,925 people who can speak Cantonese and 393,430 who speak it most often at home.
Method notes, market by market
Hong Kong. Table 2.7 of the C&SD summary report gives Cantonese as the usual spoken language for 89.5% of people aged 5 and over in 2011, 88.9% in 2016 and 88.2% in 2021. A figure of 90.6% appeared on an earlier Surfio page. It matches none of those three census years, so Surfio has replaced it with 88.2%.
Canada. Knowledge of languages comes from the 25% long-form sample. Mother tongue and home language come from 100% data. A May 2026 Statistics Canada article rounds the knowledge figure to 725,000 and reports that 83,000 people used Cantonese at work, a count that includes people who used it alongside another language. The Census Profile figure of 50,950 counts only the language used most often at work.
England and Wales. Each person gives one main language. A bilingual resident who names English is not counted as a Cantonese speaker, so the true number who speak Cantonese is higher than 55,555. The same table has 118,271 people under "All other Chinese". Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate censuses and are not included.
United States. The newest Census Bureau table Surfio found that lists Cantonese on its own covers 2009 to 2013. In that table 1,867,485 people answered only "Chinese" and are not split into Cantonese or Mandarin, so 458,840 is a floor, not a full count.
Singapore. The Cantonese row counts people for whom Cantonese is the language most frequently spoken at home, whatever their second language. It excludes one-person households. A figure of 429,329, cited on Wikipedia from the 2020 census, counts Cantonese dialect-group ancestry, not language, so it is not used here.
Age profile
Two official sources describe an older Cantonese-speaking population. Statistics Canada reports an average age of 50 for Cantonese speakers in 2021, and says 76% were born outside Canada. In Singapore's 2020 table, 38,397 of the 79,216 residents who mainly speak Cantonese at home are aged 65 or over.
| Market | Indicator | Cantonese speakers | Comparison group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada, 2021 | Average age | 50 years | 39 years for Mandarin speakers |
| Canada, 2021 | Born outside Canada | 76% | 85% of Mandarin speakers |
| Singapore, 2020 | Share aged 65 and over | 48.5% (38,397 of 79,216) | 15.0% of all 3,596,284 residents in the table |
What these figures do not tell a business
A census counts residents. It does not count phone calls, and it says nothing about how many Cantonese speakers call any one business. Surfio makes no claim about call demand from these numbers.
For context on who compiled this page: Surfio sells Cantonese call answering. Surfio takes Cantonese-speaking calls for a business on a dedicated line and hands each enquiry back in English, and the first step is a paid USD 380 pilot.
Surfio's position: count your own calls from Cantonese speakers for two weeks before relying on any population figure. The missed-call calculator turns that count into a weekly value. If the calls are real and nobody can take them, the Cantonese call answering service and the industry pages explain the next step.
How to cite this page
Cite the statistics office for any single figure. To cite the compilation, use: Surfio, "Cantonese speaker statistics by market", updated 14 September 2026, https://surfio.net/cantonese-speakers-statistics/.
Each figure was checked against the linked primary table or file on 14 September 2026. No row relies on a news article, encyclopaedia or vendor page.
Frequently asked questions
How many Cantonese speakers are there in Canada?
The 2021 Census of Canada counted 724,925 people who can hold a conversation in Cantonese. It counted 553,380 whose mother tongue is Cantonese and 393,430 who speak it most often at home.
Are there more Cantonese or Mandarin speakers in the USA?
In the Census Bureau's 2009 to 2013 table, 487,250 people spoke Mandarin at home and 458,840 spoke Cantonese. Another 1,867,485 answered only "Chinese", so the true split is unknown.
How many Cantonese speakers have limited English?
Only the US table measures this directly. Of the 458,840 people who spoke Cantonese at home in 2009 to 2013, 257,625 said they speak English less than "very well".
Is Cantonese a dying language?
The official figures point in different directions. Hong Kong's usual-language share fell from 89.5% in 2011 to 88.2% in 2021, while Australia's count of home users rose from 280,947 in 2016 to 295,281 in 2021.
What are the top languages spoken at home in Australia after English?
ABS 2021 QuickStats lists Mandarin (685,274), Arabic (367,159), Vietnamese (320,758), Cantonese (295,281) and Punjabi (239,033) as the top five.
Sources
- Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong: 2021 Population Census Summary Results, Tables 2.7 and 2.8, accessed 14 September 2026
- Statistics Canada: Census Profile, 2021 Census, 98-401-X2021001, Canada, provinces and territories (CSV), accessed 14 September 2026
- Statistics Canada: Asian History Month: Let's talk languages (5 May 2026), accessed 14 September 2026
- Australian Bureau of Statistics: 2021 Census QuickStats, Australia, accessed 14 September 2026
- Office for National Statistics via Nomis: Census 2021 TS024 Main language (detailed), accessed 14 September 2026
- US Census Bureau: Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English, 2009-2013, Table 1, accessed 14 September 2026
- Singapore Department of Statistics: Census of Population 2020, table 17434, accessed 14 September 2026