The second most spoken language in every London borough

More than 300 languages are spoken throughout the capital, making it one of the most linguistically diverse cities in the world. According to the Government, a third of London’s population was born outside the UK, bringing a wealth of new languages, and each borough is dotted with international communities.

In Green Lanes, you can dine on Turkish and Cypriot cuisine. For a taste of Colombian coffee, head to Elephant and Castle, while Chinatown continues to draw crowds for its delicious food. Across the UK, English is still the most popular language, with the 2021 Census recording that 91.1% of residents aged three years and over in Wales spoke English or Welsh as their main language.

The second most common languages across the UK were Polish (1.1%), Romanian (0.8%), and Panjabi (0.5%). However, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has broken it down across all 32 London boroughs, according to the 2021 census.

In some boroughs, the second most popular languages were much more condensed reflecting the strong communities in the capital, such as Tower Hamlets, where 10.97% of the population spoke Bengali (including Sylheti and Chittagonian).

It found that Romanian and Spanish were the most popular second languages across the highest number of boroughs, with both coming second across six places.

Turkish, Polish and Panjabi featured across several boroughs, while French also popped up as the second most popular in others. Here is a breakdown of the results, which include speakers aged three years and older.