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Wilmington-Newark, DE-MD |
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LANGUAGE
The Census asks questions about language use at home to locate groups of people who speak a language other than English. Their isolation or integration into a primarily English speaking community can be determined by their ability to speak English proficiently.
| Language Spoken at Home, 1990-2000 | ||||
| 1990 | 2000 | |||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Only English | 443,030 | 93.07% | 494,163 | 90.30% |
| Spanish | 11,694 | 2.46% | 25,887 | 4.73% |
| Other Indo-European* | 16,013 | 3.36% | 16,950 | 3.10% |
| Asian Language** | 3,938 | 0.83% | 7,724 | 1.41% |
| Other | 1,337 | 0.28% | 2,514 | 0.46% |
| Total Population Age 5+ | 476,012 | 100.00% | 547,238 | 100.00% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 2000 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 12,550 | 48.48% |
| Other Indo-European* | 4,222 | 24.91% |
| Asian Language** | 3,293 | 42.63% |
| Other Language | 592 | 23.55% |
| Total | 20,657 | 3.77% |
| Population Speaking English Less Than "Very Well" in 1990 | ||
| Language Spoken at Home: | Number | Percent |
| Spanish | 4,291 | 36.69% |
| Other Indo-European* | 4,460 | 27.85% |
| Asian Language** | 1,774 | 45.05% |
| Other Language | 366 | 27.37% |
| Total | 10,891 | 2.29% |
* "Other Indo-European" excludes English and Spanish. "Indo-European" is not synonymous with "European." French, German, Hindi, and Persian are all classified as Indo-European. Hungarian, on the other hand, is lumped into "Other Language."
** "Asian Language" includes languages indigenous to Asia and Pacific islands areas that are not also Indo-European languages. Chinese, Japanese, Telugu, and Hawaiian are all classified here.
Also note that ability to speak English "very well" is based on the self-assessment of those responding to Census questions, not on a test of language ability.
Source: Census 2000 analyzed by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN).
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