By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor
Polish is the now the second language in England and Wales with more than half a million speakers.
New figures from the 2011 Census also revealed 140,000 could not speak English at all.
More than one in five people in London said English was not their first language and in all but three London boroughs in the capital more than 100 main languages were listed.
Polish shops have sprung up across the country to cater for more than half a million Polish speakers.
Polish shops have sprung up across the country to cater for more than half a million Polish speakers.
Polish was the second most commonly reported main language in England and Wales with 546,000 speakers. More than half a million Poles came here during the last decade.
Of the four million residents of England and Wales who spoke a main language other than English, 1.7 million said they could speak English very well, 726,000 could speak English but not well and 138,000 could not speak English at all.
Redcar and Cleveland local authority had the highest percentage of people with English as their main language at 99 per cent of the population, with Ealing listing the highest proportion of Polish speakers at 6 per cent of the population.
London had the highest proportion, at 22 per cent, of people who reported that English was not their main language.
English was the main language for 92 per cent of residents (50 million people) aged three or older across England and Wales. Meanwhile, only 22,000 people used sign language.
The Census data also revealed how the proportion of people who can speak Welsh fell in many parts of Wales between 2001 and 2011
The 2011 Census was the first to ask how well people could speak English when this was not their main form of communication.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed 138,000 residents could not speak the language at all. Some 726,000 had a weak grasp of English.
London had the most people using a foreign tongue. This graph shows the top five most reported main languages other than English (or Welsh in Wales)
FROM CORNISH TO MANX GAELIC: 100 LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN BRITAIN
The new Census data revealed 100 different languages spoken across the country, from the well-known to the almost forgotten.
Just 33 people gave their main language as Manx Gaelic, the ancient language of the Isle of Man which was officially recored as extinct in 1974.
Elsewhere 58 people said Scottish Gaelic, 557 people said Cornish, 510 said Caribbean Creole and 461 listed gypsy/traveller languages.
French was the main language of 147,099, Portugese 133,453, Spanish 120,222 and German 77,240.
Amid a growing row over the number of eastern Europeans likely to come to Britain when visa limits are lifted, 38,946 said Bulgarian was their mother tongue and 67,586 said Romanian.
Around 1.6 million could speak the language 'well' while around 1.7 million could speak it 'very well'.
The national tongue is not the main language for about four million residents - around eight per cent of the population.
After English, the second most prevalent language was Polish, spoken by 1 per cent of the population - a total of 546,000 people, followed by Panjabi (0.5 per cent, 273,000) and Urdu (0.5 per cent, 269,000).
The Census found 49 different tongues were used as the main form of communication by groups of more than 15,000 people. Of the top five languages, three were South Asian.
Levels of proficiency in English varied across the country. In Kensington and Chelsea, where 43,000 said English was not their main language, the vast majority, or 91 per cent reported speaking English well.
This compared to Boston, in Lincolnshire, where 8,200 said they did not speak English as a main language, but four in 10 people in this group said they did not speak English well or at all.
Newham, in east London, has the highest proportion of the population without English as a main language at 41 per cent.
Just under eight per cent of people in England and Wales said English was not their main language, rising to 22 per cent in London
Just under eight per cent of people in England and Wales said English was not their main language, rising to 22 per cent in London
The new data also revealed more about health, occupations and families of people living in the country.
The majority of people, or 81 per cent in England, reported that their general health was very good or good, with this figure falling to 78 per cent in Wales.
London, with its relatively young population, enjoyed the best levels of reported good health - at 84 per cent compared to 77 per cent in the North East.
More than 10 million people reported that their daily activities last year were limited because of a health problem or disability.
The Census data revealed how the proportion of people who can speak Welsh has fallen in many parts of Wales between 2001 and 2011
The Census data revealed how the proportion of people who can speak Welsh has fallen in many parts of Wales between 2001 and 2011
The census also showed 7 per cent of residents in England and Wales were full time students aged between 16 and 74 years old, an increase of 2 per cent over the last decade.
There were 153,000 people in the Armed Forces in England and Wales, making up 0.3 per cent of the population.
More than half of people drive to work, the Census data showed.
In 2011, 58 per cent of 16-to-74-year-olds (15 million) in England & Wales used a car or van to get to work and a further 5 per cent got a lift.
The second favourite way to get to work was walking, chosen by 2.8million people, or 11 per cent. Others took the bus (7 per cent, 1.9 million).
In London 50 per cent of people used public transport to get to work compared to 6 per cent in the South West and 13 per cent in the North East.
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