The census was carried out on 21 March 2021. The census is the main source of information about the number and percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales. The Government's Cymraeg 2050 strategy clearly states that the path to a million Welsh speakers is based on the 2011 Census data, and that census data will be used to track progress towards the million.
The 2021 Census results show that 17.8% of the population in Wales can speak Welsh. That’s 538,300 people aged three or older. This is the lowest percentage ever to be recorded in a census, but it’s not the lowest number of speakers to be recorded. However, the number of Welsh speakers has been decreasing since 2001.
The census data also reveals a lot to us about who speaks Welsh, how old they are, where they live, what jobs they do etc.
Key points
- On the day of the census, the residential population in Wales was 3,107,500; this is the highest population ever to be recorded in a census in Wales.
- The biggest decrease in the percentage of Welsh speakers was seen in the 5–15 age category, from 40.3% in 2011 to 34.3% in 2021.
- There was a slight increase in the percentage of Welsh speakers in the ages categories of 16–19 (from 27.0% in 2011 to 27.5% in 2021) and 20–44 (from 15.6% in 2011 to 16.5% in 2021).
- The local authorities with the highest percentage of Welsh speakers were Gwynedd (64.4%), Anglesey (55.8%) and Ceredigion (45.3%). The local authorities with the lowest percentage of Welsh speakers were Blaenau Gwent (6.2%), Newport (7.5%) and Torfaen (8.2%).
- The local authorities with the highest number of Welsh speakers were Gwynedd (73,600), Carmarthenshire (72,800) and Cardiff (42,757). The local authorities with the lowest number of Welsh speakers were Blaenau Gwent (4,000), Merthyr Tydfil (5,100) and Torfaen (7,400).
- A small increase was seen in the percentage of Welsh speakers in three local authorities since 2011: Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan and Rhondda Cynon Taf. The percentage was consistent in Merthyr Tydfil whilst the percentage was lower in all other local authorities.
You can read the Commissioner’s initial response to the results here.
You can read more about the results and the Welsh Government’s analysis here:
To find results on Welsh language skills in specific areas, search the ONS maps below:
Welsh speaking ability - Census Maps, ONS
Build a custom area profile - Census 2021, ONS
Statistics about the Welsh language from the census and other surveys are conveniently gathered together on the StatsCymru website.