CANBERRA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- 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.