The latest batch of data from last year's Census is out and it contains some fascinating numbers. Did you know, for instance, that only 41% of people in one part of Wales call themselves either "Welsh" or "Welsh and British"?
Had you realised that there are only five Jewish people in Merthyr? Or that the proportion of people identifying as Christian is dropping faster in Wales than in England?
We've taken a look at the highlights of this census release and delved into what the numbers say about Wales and the different identities of Welsh people. There have been some fairly big changes since the last batch of data in 2011 - take a look:
Welsh identity - are you Welsh, British, or a bit of both?
The number of people in Wales calling themselves "British" only has risen slightly since 2011, from 16.9% to 18.5%, with the number choosing "Welsh" only slightly dropping. As of 2021, around two thirds (63.2%) of people in Wales call themselves either "Welsh" or "Welsh and British."
The remaining 36.8% is made up mainly of people who call themselves British (18.4%), English (9.1%), English and British (1.8%) and a host of other identities. 0.46% of the population are Scottish (including "Scottish and British"), 0.35% are Irish (including "Irish and a UK identity"), and of all the national identities outside of the UK and Ireland, Polish was the most common at 0.68%.
A moderately-sized elephant in the room here is that anyone who identifies as a mixture of Welsh, English or British and something else - these people are grouped as “Other identity and at least one UK identity.” In a nutshell, it means that someone who identifies as Japanese and English is filed under the same column as someone who identifies as Canadian and Welsh.
This probably means there are more people for whom Welsh is one part of their identity, who aren’t counted in these numbers - which make up 1.11% of the population of Wales.
Where in Wales is the most Welsh?
There are loads of ways of measuring how 'Welsh' an area is, and no single metric can really cover it. You can look at how people feel, what language they speak, how many people were born in the area they currently live - but if you ask people whether they're Welsh, you should get a pretty good idea.
By this measure, the Valleys come out on top. Between 78 and 80% of people in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil and Caerphilly describe themselves as either "Welsh" only, or "Welsh and British" only. At the other end of the scale, only 40.8% of people in Flintshire call themselves Welsh or Welsh and British.
There's a bit of a pattern with areas bordering England - Flintshire, Powys, Monmouthshire and (to a lesser extent) Wrexham - having a lower proportion of people calling themselves Welsh. These are generally the places with higher English populations too.
Some 25.4% of people in Flintshire call themselves English or English and British, for instance - 20.8% in Powys, 17.5% in Monmouthshire and 13.9% in Wrexham. However a number of areas further from the border also have a high number of English (or English/British) residents - Ceredigion, for instance, boasts a 17.5% figure and Anglesey 15%.
Cardiff, despite having a reputation as a destination for English people moving west to Wales, is only made up 8.5% of English (or English/British) residents - although it's got one of the higher percentages of people just calling themselves British (21.8%). The most "British" place in Wales, according to what residents call themselves, is Monmouthshire (27%), followed by Flintshire (25.7%) and Powys (24.4%).
The places identifying least with the name "British" are those that identified most with "Welsh" - Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Neath Port Talbot and Caerphilly all coming in at below 14%.
You can see the percentage of people in your local area who identify as Welsh (or Welsh and British) using our interactive map below:
Losing our religion
The percentage of people identifying as Christian is falling faster in Wales than anywhere else. The proportion of people reporting Christian faith dropped by 14% between 2011 and 2021 - from 57.6% to 43.6%, a decrease over two percentage points bigger than the rest of the UK.
Responses of “no religion” shot up from 32.1% to 46.5% in Wales (a 14.5% jump) - and for comparison, this only increased by 12% in England and Wales overall, from 25.2% to 37.2%. This means Wales is both less religious than England, and becoming unreligious at a faster rate.
Welsh Humanists coordinator Kathy Riddick commented on this: "Wales is officially the least religious part of the UK, and while that’s not a new development, it is something that politicians in Wales are overdue to properly address in law and public policy. Thankfully in navigating these changes, Wales has a strong tradition of supporting freedom of religion or belief to draw on, from disestablishment over 100 years ago to the creation of the most inclusive curriculum in the UK just last year.
"There are still many areas where being non-religious in Wales comes with disadvantages. From hospital chaplaincy, which fails to include any non-religious support across Wales, to school assemblies where daily acts of Chistian worship remain mandatory, and in many national events where religious groups are represented but non-religious beliefs are not.
"Our latest Census should give the Welsh Government lots of confidence that it is heading in the right direction. But there needs to be greater support for – and greater recognition of – the very significant non-religious population. Ministers need to be much more ready to take a hard look at traditions and practices that don’t reflect our diverse population, and much more open to proposals for modern alternatives that include everyone."
There's lots more to dig into with the religion data. Take a look at Merthyr Tydfil - once the home of a thriving synagogue and Jewish community.
Merthyr Tydfil is now home to just five Jewish people. Of all the major religions (Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and Sikhism), no local authority in Wales recorded a lower number of people of any religion than Merthyr Tydfil did for Jews, and this is part of a sustained decline in south Wales' Jewish numbers.
Anglesey, Flintshire and Conwy are the most Christian areas of Wales, recording numbers at just over 50%, whilst Caerphilly, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Blaenau Gwent and Cardiff are the least Christian, all just under 40%.
The Valleys areas in this list all show pretty high figures for people responding that they weren't religious - again, all hovering between 56 and 57%. Cardiff's lack of Christian faith seems more down to its religious diversity though - it has the highest percentages of Muslim (9.3%), Sikh (0.4%), Hindu (1.5%) and Jewish (0.2%) residents in Wales.
In fact, Cardiff leads most of these by a fair margin, except for Islam - Newport's population is 7.1% Muslim, Swansea's 3.2% and most areas except (Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Caerphilly and Powys) made up between 0.5 and 1.1% of Muslim residents.
What about the Welsh language?
The name of the data set includes the word "language," but it doesn't actually tell us much about Welsh just yet. In the numbers released today, Welsh was grouped with “English or Welsh” when people were asked about their main language.
There was a separate question for people in Wales asking people about their Welsh language ability - and the results of it will be published on December 6. We’ll know much more about it then.
Diversity (or a lack of it)
The overall England and Wales figures show a decrease in people identifying as “White,” (from 81.7% to 74.4%). Of those calling themselves “White,” 74.4% said their ethnic group was “English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British,” a slight decrease of 6.1% from 2011.
Within Wales, 73% of Cardiff residents identify with one of these six “White” identities - but outside of the capital, you won’t find an area of Wales less than 80% “English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British.” Most local authorities sit solidly above the 93% mark.
But the really interesting numbers show up when you compare England with Wales. England has more than triple the proportion of “Asian, or Asian British” people (9.6%) than Wales has “Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh” people (2.9%).
The numbers for “Black, Black British, Caribbean or African” people (including “Black Welsh” in Wales) look similarly disparate. In England, these groups make up 4.2% of the population - in Wales, only 0.9%.
Wales, generally, is less ethnically diverse than England. The figure to cap this all off is the comparison of those identifying as “White” - although this number has dropped overall, it sits at 81% of England’s population but 93.8% of Wales’.
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