Welsh Speakers
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By the middle of the 19th century there were about one million people living in Wales and about 800,000 or 80% of the population spoke Welsh.
The Industrial Revolution brought many changes to Wales. One of the biggest changes was a shift in population from rural areas to the new industrial areas and a huge increase in people coming to live and work in Wales from outside its borders.
By 1901 Wales had a population of 2 million people; about 50% or 1 million of these were Welsh speakers. The number of speakers had increased but the percentage of the population who could speak the language had declined drastically.
Between 1901 and 2001 Wales’ population rose to almost 3 million. English became an everyday language for all through the media, popular culture, education, work and local and central government. By 1991 fewer than 19% of the population were recorded as Welsh speakers.
By 2001 the percentage of Welsh speakers had begun to rise again to 20.8% or 582,000 people. The percentage of Welsh speakers among children and young people was much higher, reflecting the improved status of the language in education.