English is the most common spoken language in Aotearoa New Zealand, while Māori and New Zealand Sign Language have special status under the law as official languages. Aotearoa's rich diversity means there are many languages spoken in New Zealand. According to Census 2018, English, te reo Māori, Samoan, Northern Chinese (including Mandarin) and Hindi are the most widely spoken languages.Graphic - language names as a globe with the word 'Languages' bold and in red on the front.

The information on the following pages includes data from the 2001, 2006 and 2013 Censuses. Where possible the most recently published data have been used.

 

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