The number of Welsh speakers in Wales has fallen by 24,000 over the last decade, according to the 2021 census. Data published on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that in 2021 an estimated 538,000 usual residents, or 17.8% of people in Wales aged three years and over, reported being able to speak Welsh.
This was a decrease from 562,000 usual resident or 19.0% of the population that could speak, read, and write in the language in 2011. According to the ONS one of the main factors contributing to the overall decrease in the percentage of people who reported being able to speak Welsh between 2011 and 2021 was the decrease in children and young people aged three to 15 years who reported this skill.
The percentage of usual residents aged three years and over able to speak Welsh decreased between 2011 and 2021 in all local authorities except in Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, and Merthyr Tydfil. Among children and young people aged three to 15 years the percentage who could speak Welsh decreased in all local authorities between 2011 and 2021.
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The biggest increase was in Cardiff where 6,000 more people were able to speak the language in 2021 compared to 2011. The highest number of Welsh speakers over the age of three was in Gwynedd with 73,600 Welsh speakers and in Carmarthenshire with 72,800.
The lowest number of speakers was in Blaenau Gwent with 4,000 speakers and Merthyr Tydfil with 5,100. The highest percentages of Welsh speakers in local authorities were in Gwynedd with 64.4% and Anglesey with 55.8%. But the lowest percentages of Welsh speakers were in Blaenau Gwent with 6.2% and Newport where the figure was 7.5%.
According to Stephanie Howarth, a chief statistician for the Welsh Government, it is possible that the coronavirus pandemic may have affected the Welsh-language ability of children and young people in Wales. In the report she said: "Census 2021 was held during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on March 21, 2021.
"This followed periods of lockdown, remote learning for children, and many people were working from home. It is not known how the pandemic impacted people’s reported Welsh-language ability or their perception of the Welsh-language ability of others such as their children.
"The percentage of children and young people aged five to 15 years reported as being able to speak Welsh in the census is typically higher than the percentage of children and young people being taught Welsh as a first language. What we do know from education data is that around half of the children being taught Welsh as a first language do not speak Welsh at home.
"We also know that children and young people who are able to speak Welsh are substantially less likely to do so with their friends outside school than at school. It’s possible that the pandemic may have affected the Welsh language ability of children and young people and/or affected the perception of parents or guardians reporting Welsh language ability on their behalf. We can’t know at this stage if this might be a short-term or longer-term impact.
"We also know that the population of Wales has changed somewhat since 2011. Between Census 2011 and Census 2021 the population of Wales is estimated to have increased by 1.4%. This is due to more people moving into Wales than leaving Wales. There were more people who were born outside Wales living here in 2021 than in 2011. We know from previous censuses that people born outside Wales are much less likely to report being able to speak Welsh than people born in Wales.
"There were also fewer births than deaths in Wales during this period. This meant that there were fewer people aged under 15 years in 2021 than in 2011 and an increasingly larger proportion of the population aged 65 years or older. Census 2021 and recent censuses tell us that children and young people aged five to 15 years old are more likely to be able to speak Welsh than any other age group."
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