Record-low percentage of Welsh speakers

THE percentage of people in Wales who speak Welsh has fallen to a record low according to census figures released yesterday.

New data released by the Office for National Statistics shows the number of Welsh speakers has fallen by more than 20,000 over the last decade.

In March 2021, 538,000 people aged three or older said they could speak Welsh - this is around 23,700 (1.2%) fewer people than in 2011.

These figures mean the percentage of people aged three years or older able to speak Welsh in 2021 was at a record low of 17.8%.

Figures show that in 2021, almost three quarters (74.8%) of the population aged three years or older had no Welsh language ability, which is an increase from 73.3% in 2011. In 1921, an estimated 922,100 people in Wales could speak Welsh but this number has decreased over the last century, reaching a low of around 503,500 in 1981.

Despite an increase between 1981 and 2001, the number of Welsh speakers fell from 582,000 in 2001 to 562,000 in 2011. ONS figures show other Welsh language skills also suffered a decline.

The percentage of people able to speak, read and write Welsh decreased from 14.6% to 14.2%. This equates to around 1,400 fewer people and is a considerably smaller decrease than Welsh speaker figures.

According to ONS data, the fall in Welsh speakers over the last decade was mainly driven by less children and young people speaking Welsh. There was a 6% drop in the number of children aged 5 to 15 speaking the language between 2011 and 2021.

The highest percentages of Welsh speakers were in northwest Wales, with 64.4% in Gwynedd, and 55.8% on Anglesey. In smaller areas, this was even greater with 86.3% of people able to speak Welsh in some parts of Gwynedd.

However, the percentage of Welsh speakers decreased since 2011 in all local authorities except Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil.

The Welsh Government was approached for comment.