Annual Population Survey shows fall in number of Welsh speakers
Stephen Price
Following the publication of the latest Annual Population Survey which shows a further fall in the number of Welsh speakers, Cymdeithas yr Iaith has called for the Welsh Government to ‘stop and act’ in the period before the election.
Released on 3 July 2025, the Survey covers the period April 2024 to March 2025.
A line chart produced to highlight the findings of the survey shows that, having fallen between 2001 and 2007, there has since been a general increase in the estimated number of Welsh speakers recorded by the APS.
The numbers have decreased over the most recent year. According to the APS, there were an estimated 828,600 Welsh speakers living in Wales in the year ending 31 March 2025.
For the year ending 31 March 2025, the Annual Population Survey estimated that 26.9% of people aged three years and over were able to speak Welsh. This is the lowest percentage recorded since September 2013. This figure equates to around 828,600 people.
The latest estimate is around 1.1 percentage points lower than the year ending 31 March 2024 when an estimated 28.0% of people aged three years or older were able to speak Welsh.
According to the Welsh Government, however, this decrease is not statistically significant, and should be interpreted with caution due to a change in the survey mode between the two periods, and the temporary suspension of the accredited official statistics status of the APS as a result of increasing uncertainty outlined above.
Face-to-face interviews were suspended in mid-March 2020 in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and all interviews were conducted over the phone. Face-to-face interviews were reintroduced in autumn 2023 meaning that the latest data are based on a combination of phone and face-to-face interviews.
Key findings
- Children and young people aged 3 to 15 years were more likely to report that they could speak Welsh (46.9%, 228,900) than any other age group. This is consistent over time, but the percentage of children and young people aged 3 to 15 years who can speak Welsh has been decreasing in general since the beginning of 2019.
- The highest estimated numbers of Welsh speakers are found in Gwynedd (89,000), Carmarthenshire (86,400) and Cardiff (78,900).
- The lowest estimated numbers of Welsh speakers are in Blaenau Gwent (7,800) and Merthyr Tydfil (9,700).
- The highest estimated percentages of Welsh speakers can be found in Gwynedd (72.7%) and the Isle of Anglesey (62.5%).
- The lowest estimated percentages of Welsh speakers are in Blaenau Gwent (11.6%) and Rhondda Cynon Taf (14.4%).
- 13.8% (423,900) of people aged three years and over reported that they spoke Welsh daily, 5.3% (161,800) weekly and 6.7% (205,400) less often. Around 1.2% (36,800) reported that they never spoke Welsh despite being able to speak it, with the remaining 73.1% not able to speak Welsh.
- 31.2% (958,600) reported that they could understand spoken Welsh, 23.9% (735,400) could read and 21.6% (665,500) could write in Welsh.
Welsh education for all
A spokesperson from Cymdeithas yr Iaith shared: “The results of the Annual Population Survey are extremely disappointing as they show a continuous fall in the number of Welsh speakers.
“In the past the Welsh Government has referred to annual surveys in order to avoid criticism for the disastrous results of the 2021 Census. These results should be a wake up call for the Government to use the remaining nine months of the Senedd term to act, and stop dragging it’s feet, as it has been over the past few years.
“Ten months after the publication of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities’ report, which carried out two years of detailed research and analysis, the Government’s response to it did nothing more than confirm that current plans will continue and say that further discussion and research is needed. We need more than that to tackle the housing crisis in areas which have traditionally been Welsh heartlands.
“The Welsh Language and Education Act – which received royal assent on Monday 7 July – was far too weak and lacked statutory targets in order to drive change and achieve the Government’s own aim of giving the Welsh language to all children through the education system.
“Rather than ensuring an Act that will make a real difference when it is introduced, the next Government will have to return to it and add a statutory target for giving Welsh education to all children.
“We also encourage the Government to reverse the recent decision to drop the promise to establish a Broadcasting and Communications Advisory Body for Wales which would start the process of putting broadcasting powers in the hands of the people of Wales.”
The Welsh Government says: “We’re working on a wide range of actions to achieve our aim of a million Welsh speakers by 2050, and to increase opportunities for people to use their Cymraeg.
“This includes the recently passed Welsh language and Education Bill, our response to the report of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities, the second phase of the Commission which is looking at the Welsh language in areas with fewer Welsh speakers, free Welsh lessons for 16-25 year olds, and increasing the amount of Welsh language technology that’s available.”
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What a surprise, with the colonisation that’s happening. It would take a superhuman to resist this social conditioning.
Colonisation and immigration from over Offa’s Dyke.
Doesn’t look like the Welsh government is forcing anyone to learn Welsh. I wonder who said that.
The only language that’s forced in Wales is … English.
Immigrants may be unlikely to speak Welsh, and will increase the number of English speakers, but in what way are they reducing the number of Welsh speakers?
These figures are in percent,more English immigrants,high percentage of non Welsh speakers. Simple stuff
It probably needs the be simpler… The chart quite clearly shows the number of speakers declining in since around 2019, but still higher than 2009. There are more Welsh speakers by sheer numbers than 2013 but the percentage of the population is the same because the population is bigger.
Why the use of Welsh has declined recently I don’t know; maybe the issue isn’t who’s moving in, it’s who’s moving out.
There is nothing wrong at all with using Welsh , however forcing its use clearly isn’t working whilst wasting vast sums of badly needed cash as well as disadvantaging children for work outside of Wales , which lets be honest they are going to need to do given the Senedds continued oversight of a declining economy in Wales ..
Isn’t it Ironic that so many of those that shout about others not respecting British culture, emigrate to Wales and refuse to respect our culture.
Amazing comment.
Unfortunately that’s only part of the problem as many youngsters born in Welsh speaking areas are also opting to converse with each other in English and ignore their culture even though they are totally fluent in Welsh.
Correct, unfortunately the “learned self hate” of being welsh is still around.
Given that English is the first language of the vast majority of Welsh people, it is hard to accuse immigrants of failing to respect Welsh culture purely because they speak English. If Welsh people can’t be bothered to learn it, why on earth should immigrants bother?
Because learning the language of the country one migrates to, is a very basic level of respect for one’s new home and the decent himself thing to do. Not bothering to learn a language of your new found home is just completely disgusting.
Not bothering to learn some of a country’s language after you move in is like being invited into someone’s home and spitting on the floor.
This will be music to the ears of Nigel Farage as he prepares to launch his anti-Cymraeg agenda for the next Senedd Election. How many will fall for it?
it’s just a survey based on a sample. Indicative maybe of continuing decline but hardly the truth…
The solution could be an audacious guerrilla marketing campaign. Hear me out for a moment.
We start an advertising campaign presenting Cymraeg as a means of underground opposition to the failures of Westminster, and the culture erasure imposed on us by English nationalism. This could be tied in with forgotten communities and make them feel empowered.
It’s the bith rate..the first language community need to have more babies.The first language is essential or we will end up with more second language speakers as in Ireland. Look at the demise of French in Quebec.