Welsh language question on Census 2021

FOI ref: FOI/2022/4635

You asked

​I am interested in discovering, what are the questions that have been posed to people on whether or not they can speak Welsh?

We said

Thank you for your request.

The 2021 Census asked questions about respondents' ability to speak, read or write in Welsh (Question 17) and to state their main language (Question 18).

Question 17 was asked in Wales only. The specific wording of the question has been extracted and provided in the associated download, named Welsh language question on Census 2021 (pdf, 70.9 KB).

Question 18 was asked in both England and Wales, but the English questionnaire only included English (and other) as response options. Question 17 was intentionally left blank in England.

If you have any further queries regarding the Census, please contact census.customerservices@ons.gov.uk.

The topic summary 'Welsh language: Census 2021 in Wales' is scheduled for release on 6 December: https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/welshlanguagecensus2021inwales