'Encouraging' survey suggests rise in Welsh language speakers

A suggested rise in the number of Welsh speakers over the last decade is "encouraging", the Welsh Government has said. A survey by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggests 874,700 people are able to speak the language, up from 726,600 in 2008. The Welsh Government wants to get one million people speaking Welsh by 2050.
Welsh Language minister Eluned Morgan said the results of the survey were very encouraging ahead of the census. The data was published as part of the Annual Population Survey, which asked 31,000 people about their ability to speak Welsh in 14,500 different households in the different council areas across Wales.

While it suggests a rise in the number of Welsh speakers in most parts of Wales, the official data will not be known until the next census is carried out in 2021.Traditional Welsh-speaking communities have been said to be under threat from young people moving away to find work and new housing developments attracting incomers who do not speak the language.But according to the survey, by the end of June 2008, there were 726,600 people in Wales who said they could speak Welsh, or 25.8% of the population.

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