Infographic showing the percentage of population by first official language spoken in 2021. (Source: Statistics Canada)

Canada has two official languages – English and French. About 98 percent of Canadians can chat in one of them. Eighteen percent speak both languages fluently.

But we speak many other languages, too. One in eight Canadians speaks a different language at home.

A snapshot in time

How does the government know this? Every five years, Statistics Canada takes a census. The last one was in 2021.