The number of people who speak a language other than English at home has increased by 10 percent during a five-year period, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2008 Year Book available on Thursday.

The statistics say that 16 percent of Australians - or 3.1 million - speak a language other than English at home, which represent a 10 percent rise from the 2001 Census to the 2006 Census.

The most-commonly spoken languages were Italian, Greek, Arabic, Chinese (including Cantonese and Mandarin) and Vietnamese.

Indigenous Australians - who speak a native language at home - represent 11 percent of people who speak a language other than English at home. Of these people more than 50 percent reside in the Northern Territory.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2008)