Language Maps

The second most spoken language in the UK is Polish. Thanks to The Guardian's Language Map it is now possible to visualise the geographic distribution of different languages in England and Wales.

Using the language data from the 2011 UK census The Guardian has created a Google Map that allows the user to view the percentage of speakers of different languages in each census tract in England and Wales.

Users can click on any census tract to view the breakdown of the main languages spoken or they can select a language from a drop-down menu to view a heat map of the language's distribution throughout England and Wales.


In Canada Global News used the language data from the 2011 Canadian census to also create a mapped visualisation of the leading mother tongues by census tract.

The Google Map allows users to view the percentage of different language speakers in each of the major Canadian cities. The map also includes other census topics, such as age, gender, number of children etc.


Chicagomag.com has used census data to create two Google Maps looking at Chicago's Second Languages.

One map looks at the areas with the most English-as-a-second-language speakers. The other map shows the dominant non-English language in each area and the percentage who speak that language. Both maps were created using Google Fusion Tables. 


The SBS - Census Explorer is a data exploration tool visualising the key demographic indicators from Australia's 2011 Census.

The tool allows users to explore the census data in a number of different ways. Google Maps are used throughout the Explore Languages section of the Explorer to visualise the locations of the 579 different languages spoken throughout Australia.

Using a drop-down menu it is possible to select an individual language. A heat map of where that language is spoken is then displayed on the map. It is possible to click on individual census tracts to get the exact number of the language's speakers at that location.