The 2022 census data on the use of Scots and Gaelic was included in the release covering “religion, ethnic group, language and national identity”. This release was published on 21 May 2024.
The Parliament is currently considering the Scottish Languages Bill which seeks to improve the support for both Gaelic and Scots. This new data from the census is therefore timely.
About the data
Scotland’s Census is the official count of every person and household in the country. It provides detailed demographic information about the nation at the time of the Census. You can find out more information on the What is the Census? page of the Scotland Census website. The data used is available at the end of this blog.
What does the data tell us?
For both Scots and Gaelic, there has been an increase in the number of those with any skills in the language, be it reading, writing, speaking, or listening. The rest of the blog will look at the results from the 2022 census and some of the changes since 2011.
The proportion of people in Scotland who reported that they had any skills in Gaelic and Scots both increased between 2011 and 2022.
- Gaelic increased from 1.7% to 2.5%
- Scots increased from 37.7% to 46.2%
In 2011 there were 1.9 million people with any skills in Scots; this had increased to 2.4 million by 2022. For Gaelic, there were 87,000 people with any Gaelic language skills in 2011, this had increased to 130,000 by 2022.
The languages have not seen a uniform increase across the country, by age group, or by language skill.
The census data tells us about the numbers of people who have some skills in these languages, and it is an important set of data. However, the number of speakers of a language is not the only measure of the vitality of a language. For example, it does not tell us about fluency of users, how often the language is used, nor in what different contexts the language is used (e.g. in the shops, among friends, in education, at work).
Look who’s talking
In both 2011 and 2022, the Census asked respondents to say whether they had any skills in Gaelic and Scots. The Census uses the following classification for people’s ability with the languages:
- Understands but does not speak, read, or write
- Speaks, reads, and writes
- Speaks but does not read or write
- Speaks and reads but does not write
- Reads but does not speak or write
- Other combination of skills.
In 2011, for both Scots and Gaelic, those who could speak, read and write the language account for the highest number of people, 1.2 million and 32,000 respectively. By 2022, Gaelic had seen an increase of 12,000 to 44,000. However, 50,000 fewer people reported being able to speak, read and write Scots.
The biggest increase between 2011 and 2022 by ability for both Scots and Gaelic was for those who understand but do not speak, read, or write the language. In 2011, this category contained the second highest number of people for both languages. Scots saw an increase of around 450,000 people, meaning that in 2022 just over 720,000 people reported that they understand but do not speak, read, or write Scots. For Gaelic, in 2011, 23,000 reported to understand but not read, write, or speak Gaelic; this increased to 46,000 in 2022.
In 2022, just under half of those who reported any skills in Scots said that they could read, write, and speak Scots. The proportion of those that reported any skills in Scots that said that they could understand but do not read, write, or speak the language increased from 15% to 30% between 2011 and 2022.
Those who can understand, but not read, write or speak Gaelic increased by 23,000 to 46,000. Understanding Gaelic is now the largest ability category for the language, increasing from 27% to 36%. Those who can read, write, and speak Gaelic account for around 34% of all people reported to have any skills in Gaelic in 2022, falling from 37% in 2011.
Main language
The 2022 census asked respondents what their main language was. Respondents could choose English or state any other language. This showed that for those aged over two, 0.3% of people had Scots as their main language while 0.1% stated Gaelic.
The 2011 census did not ask exactly the same question; rather it asked whether a language other than English was used in the home. This showed that for those aged over two, 1.1% of people used Scots at home while 0.5% used Gaelic in the home.
Where are the languages most common?
As can be seen, the Highlands and Islands parliamentary region has the highest proportion of the population with any Gaelic skills, at 9%. Scots is more evenly spread across the country. The following chart shows the proportion of people with any language skills by census output area.
The following chart shows the proportion of people in each Scottish Parliament constituency with any language skills in Gaelic or Scots broken down by parliamentary region.
Gaelic – Na h-Eileanan an Iar has the highest proportion of people with any Gaelic skills, at 57%. The next highest is Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, at 12%. Outside the Highlands and Islands region, Glasgow Southside and Banffshire and Buchan Coast have the highest proportion, at just under 4%.
Scots – Banffshire and Buchan Coast has the highest proportion of people with any Scots skills, at 72%. Edinburgh Central has the lowest proportion, at 28%. The Highlands and Islands region has the lowest proportion of those with Scots skills, however it has an interesting split when looking at the constituencies. Shetland, Orkney and Moray have a higher than nationwide figure, while the rest of the constituencies have a proportion below the national figure.
As can be seen, Gaelic is most prevalent in the Highlands and Islands parliamentary region. However, there was little change in the number of people with Gaelic skills between 2011 and 2022, increasing from just over 39,000 to just under 40,000. Glasgow reported the second highest number of people with Gaelic skills in 2022, at just under 19,000, increasing by 9,000 from 2011. The North East saw the highest growth in the number of those with Gaelic skills, with an increase of 10,000 between 2011 and 2022 to 17,500.
Scots is more evenly spread across the country. The North East reported the highest number of people with Scots skills in both 2011 and 2022, 350,000 and 420,000 respectively. The Highlands and Islands region had the lowest number in both 2011 and 2022, at 160,000 and 190,000. Central Scotland saw the highest growth in the number of people with Scots skills between 2011 and 2022, increasing by 90,000 to 310,000.
Getting older or younger?
The 2022 Census shows that the age groups with the highest number of any skills in Scots or Gaelic are those aged 35 and over. For Gaelic, there is little difference between the 35 to 49, 50 to 64 and over 64 age groups at or around 25,000 with any skills in each age group. For Scots, just over 600,000, or a quarter, are in the 50 to 64 age group.
The 2011 Census shows that the proportion of those with any skills in Scots or Gaelic aged under 50 were similar, 58% and 57% respectively. However, the 2022 Census shows that this has gone down to 53% for Scots and up to 62% for Gaelic. The next highest group is the 65 and older, accounting for 550, 000, or 23%. This means just under half of those with any skill in Scots are age 50 or older.
When we look at changes to how people responded to questions on these languages between the 2011 and 2022 Censuses, we can see that for Gaelic the largest growth has come in those of school age, with an 11,200 increase in the number of those aged 3 to 15 with any skill in the language. The second (largest increase was for those aged 25 to 34, increasing by 8,000. For Scots, the largest increases have come in the 50 and over age groups, with the 50 to 64 age group increasing by 166,000 and the 65 and older age group increasing by 185,000, which is more than the increase for all those aged 3 to 49.
These increases mean that for Gaelic the proportion of those aged under 50 with any skill has increased while for Scots it has decreased. This could be explained by the increase in Gaelic education provision and increase of independent learning, such as through online resources.
Andrew Aiton and Ned Sharratt, SPICe