The 2022 census data on the uiss o Scots and Gaelic wis incluidit in the release kiverin “releegion, ethnic grupe, leid and national identitie”. This release wis publisht on 21 Mey 2024.
The Pairlament is conseederin praisent the Scots Leids Bill that ettles tae impruive the support fur baith Gaelic and Scots. This new data frae the census is therefore in guid time.
Anent the data
Scotland’s Census is the offeecial coont o ilka person and hoosehaud in the kintra. It gies detailt demographic information anent the nation at the time o the Census. You can fin mair information on the Whit is the Census? page o the Scotland Census wabsteid. The data yaised is available at the end o this blog.
Whit daes the data tell us?
Fur baith Scots and Gaelic, there haes been a growth in the nummer of thon wi ony skills in the leid, be it readin, screivin, speakin, or leestenin. The rest o the blog wull speir at the results frae the 2022 census and some o the chynges syne 2011.
The saiction o fowk in Scotland that reportit that they haed ony skills in Gaelic and Scots baith acresst atween 2011 and 2022.
- Gaelic acresst frae 1.7% tae 2.5%
- Scots acresst frae 37.7% tae 46.2%
In 2011 there wis 1.9 mullion fowk wi ony skills in Scots; this haed acresst tae 2.4 mullion by 2022. Fur Gaelic, there wis 87,000 fowk with ony Gaelic leid skills in 2011, this haed acresst tae 130,000 by 2022.
The leids hivnae seen an even growth athort the kintra, by age grupe, or by leid skill.
The census data tells us anent the nummers o fowk that hae some skills in these leids, and it is an important set o data. Hooaniver, the nummer o speakers o a leid isnae the anelie meisure o the vitalitie o a leid. Fur exemple, it disnae tell us anent fluencie o the yaisers, hoo aften the leid is yaised, or whit different settins the leid is yaised (e.g. in the shaps, amang freins, in education, at wirk).
Leuk at wha’s speakin
In baith 2011 and 2022, the Census asked respondents tae say whither they haed ony skills in Gaelic and Scots. The Census yaises the follaein clessification fur fowk’s abilitie wi the leids:
- Unnerstauns but disnae speak, read, or screive
- Speaks, reads, and screives
- Speaks but disnae read or screive
- Speaks and reads but disnae screive
- Reads but disnae speak or screive
- Ither combination o skills.
In 2011, fur baith Scots and Gaelic, thon that coud speak, read and screive the leid mak up the lairgest nummer o fowk, 1.2 mullion and 32,000 respective. By 2022, Gaelic haed seen growth frae 12,000 to 44,000. Hooaniver, 50,000 pickler fowk reportit cannin tae speak, read and screive Scots.
The lairgest growth atween 2011 and 2022 by abilitie fur baith Scots and Gaelic wis fur thon that unnerstaun but dinnae speak, read, or screive the leid. In 2011, this categorie hauden the saicond lairgest nummer o fowk fur baith leids. Scots seen growth o aboot 450,000 fowk, meanin that in 2022 jist mair nor 720,000 fowk reportit that they unnerstaun but dinnae speak, read, or screive Scots. Fur Gaelic, in 2011, 23,000 reportit tae unnerstaun but no read, screive, or speak Gaelic; this acresst tae 46,000 in 2022.
In 2022, jist unner hauf o thaim that reportit ony skills in Scots said that they coud read, screive, and speak Scots. The saiction o thaim that reportit ony skills in Scots that said that they coud unnerstaun but dinnae read, screive, or speak the leid acresst frae 15% tae 30% atween 2011 and 2022.
Thon that can unnerstaun, but no read, screive or speak Gaelic acresst by 23,000 tae 46,000. Unnerstaunin Gaelic is noo the lairgest categorie o abilitie fur the leid, acressin frae 27% tae 36%. Thon that can read, screive, and speak Gaelic mak up aboot 34% o aw fowk reportit tae hae ony skills in Gaelic in 2022, fawin frae 37% in 2011.
Main leid
The 2022 census asked respondents whit their main leid wis. Respondents coud chuise English or state ony ither leid. This kythed that fur thon aged ower twa, 0.3% o fowk haed Scots as their main leid while 0.1% statit Gaelic.
The 2011 census didnae ask the same exact quaisten; raither it asked whither a leid ither than English wis yaised at hame. This kythed that fur thon aged ower twa, 1.1% o fowk yaised Scots at hame while 0.5% yaised Gaelic at hame.
Where is the leids maist common?
As can be seen, the Heilans and Islands pairlamentarie region haes the lairgest saiction o the population wi ony Gaelic skills, at 9%. Scots is spreid mair even athort the kintra. The follaein chairt kythes the saiction o fowk wi ony leid skills by census ootpit airt.
The follaein chairt kythes the saiction o fowk in ilka Scots Pairlament constituencie wi ony leid skills in Gaelic or Scots broken doon by pairlamentarie region.
Gaelic – Na h-Eileanan an Iar [CE(1] haes the lairgest saiction o fowk wi ony Gaelic skills, at 57%. The nixt lairgest is Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, at 12%. Ootside the Heilans and Islands region, Glesga Soothside and Banffshire and Buchan Coast hae the lairgest saiction, at jist unner 4%.
Scots – Banffshire and Buchan Coast haes the lairgest saiction o fowk wi ony Scots skills, at 72%. Edinburgh Central haes the smawest saiction, at 28%. The Heilans and Islands region haes the smawest saiction o thon wi Scots skills, hooaniver it haes an interestin split whin speirin at the constituencies. Shetlan, Orkney and Moray hae a muckler feegure nor nationwide, while the rest o the constituencies hae a saiction ablow the national feegure.
As can be seen, Gaelic is maist forwart in the Heilans and Islands pairlamentarie region. Hooaniver, there was pickle chynge in the nummer o fowk wi Gaelic skills atween 2011 and 2022, acressin frae jist ower 39,000 tae jist unner 40,000. Glesga reportit the saicond lairgest nummer o fowk wi Gaelic skills in 2022, at jist unner 19,000, acressin by 9,000 frae 2011. The North Eist seen the mucklest growth in the nummer o thon wi Gaelic skills, wi a growth o 10,000 atween 2011 and 2022 tae 17,500.
Scots is spreid mair even athort the kintra. The North Eist reportit the lairgest nummer o fowk wi Scots skills in baith 2011 and 2022, 350,000 and 420,000 respective. The Heilans and Islands region haed the smawest nummer in baith 2011 and 2022, at 160,000 and 190,000. Central Scotland seen the mucklest growth in the nummer o fowk wi Scots skills atween 2011 and 2022, acressin by 90,000 tae 310,000.
Gettin aulder or younger?
The 2022 Census kythes that the age grupes wi the lairgest nummer o ony skills in Scots or Gaelic are thon aged 35 and ower. Fur Gaelic, there is pickle different atween the 35 tae 49, 50 tae 64 and ower 64 age grupes at or aroon 25,000 wi ony skills in ilka age grupe. Fur Scots, jist ower 600,000, or a quarter, are in the 50 tae 64 age grupe.
The 2011 Census kythes that the saiction o thon wi ony skills in Scots or Gaelic aged unner 50 wis seemilar, 58% and 57% respective. Hooaniver, the 2022 Census kythes that this haes gane doon tae 53% fur Scots and up tae 62% fur Gaelic. The nixt lairgest grupe is the 65 and aulder, makkin up 550,000, or 23%. This means jist unner hauf of thon wi ony skill in Scots is age 50 or aulder.
Whin we speir at chynges tae hoo fowk responded tae quaistens on these leids atween the 2011 and 2022 Censuses, we can see that fur Gaelic the lairgest growth haes cam in thon o schuil age, wi a growth o 11,200 in the nummer o thon aged 3 tae 15 wi ony skill in the leid. The saicond mucklest growth wis fur thon aged 25 tae 34, acressin by 8,000. Fur Scots, the mucklest growth haes cam in the 50 and ower age grupes, wi the 50 to 64 age grupe acressin by 166,000 and the 65 and aulder age grupe acressin by 185,000, whilk is mair nor the growth for aw thon aged 3 tae 49.
Thon growth feegures mean that, fur Gaelic, the saiction o thon aged unner 50 wi ony skill haes acresst while fur Scots it haes fawen. This coud be explaint by the growth in proveesion o Gaelic education and growth o independent lairnin, sic as throu online resoorces.
Andrew Aiton and Ned Sharratt, SPICe