Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru’s Member of the Senedd for Mid & West Wales, has expressed his concern as 2021 Census data released today shows the number of Welsh speakers in Carmarthenshire has fallen by 4.1% over the past decade.
Across Wales, a drop of 1.2% in those aged over 3 years of age who could speak Welsh was seen – dropping from a total of 562,000 (19.% of the population) in 2011, to 538,000 (17.8% of the population) by 2021.
Carmarthenshire witnessed a significant drop in the number of people aged 16-64 who could speak Welsh – falling by 3.0% over the past decade. This figure contrasted with an increase of 0.3% across Wales for the age group. For this age group, Carmarthenshire had witnessed the most significant decline of all local authorities in Wales – with Pembrokeshire and Denbighshire a distant second, facing a drop of 0.2%.
For children aged 3-15, Carmarthenshire saw a decrease of 2.6% in the number of Welsh speakers over the past decade, however this contrasted with a 5.6% drop seen across Wales in the age group – with neighbouring Pembrokeshire and Powys experiencing a drop of 8.5% and 7.0% respectively.
Meanwhile, in the age category aged 65+, Carmarthenshire saw a decrease of 4.1% – the highest of all local authorities in Wales, which contrasted with a national decline of 2.3% across Wales over the past decade.
The Welsh government set a target to have one million speakers in Wales by 2050 six years ago.
Responding to the figures, Cefin Campbell MS said:
“Figures for the Welsh language across Mid & West Wales are hugely disappointing and clearly raise significant concerns.
“Questions must be asked about the extent the Labour Welsh Government has provided effective leadership on Welsh language issues over recent years, particularly in growing Welsh medium education. This decline has happened on their watch since they took responsibility for language planning when they disbanded the Welsh Language Board over 10 years ago.
In Carmarthenshire the 3% drop in the 16 -64-year-old category is alarming and dramatically contrasts to the increase seen in this age group nationally. It’s increasingly apparent that we’re facing an outward migration of young people from our Welsh speaking communities – driven by a lack of employment opportunities and affordable housing – along with a growing influx of people born outside Wales.
Whilst a drop of 2.6% in Welsh speakers between 3-15 years old was seen in Carmarthenshire, the fact this was significantly less than the picture across Wales does provide some comfort to the Local Authority who have worked hard over recent years in increasing Welsh medium education, but clearly much more needs to be done.
This is a massive wake-up call for everyone concerned with the future of the language, and if we are serious about meeting the target of creating a million Welsh speakers by 2050 then it’s time for Welsh Government and local authorities to work together as a matter of priority to address the issue before we reach the point of no return.”
Heledd Fychan MS, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for children, young people and the Welsh Language, added:“Plaid Cymru has long campaigned to ensure that access to learning and using Welsh is available to everyone in Wales and it is seriously concerning to see this demise in Welsh speakers under Labour’s watch. Cymraeg belongs to everyone in Wales, but we need more than warm words to ensure our language survives – we need radical action.”
