Gaelic Today

A total of 58,652 people speak Gaelic in Scotland today according to the last Census, and more than half of them live in the traditional areas (the Western Isles and the West Highlands) and the remainder live in the rest of Scotland.

There has been a steady decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in Scotland in the last hundred years. There were 230,806 Gaelic speakers in Scotland in 1901 according to the Census. There are a number of reasons for this decline, including economic ones, but it is hoped that with more support this decline will be halted.

According to the last Census, although there was a fall in the number of Gaelic speakers from 65,978 (1991) to 58,652 (2001), the rate of decline was not as steep as it was between 1981 and 1991 when the number of Gaelic speakers fell from 79,307 to 65,978. In addition to the people in Scotland who are able to speak Gaelic and were recorded in the last Census, there is another group of people who can read, write or understand Gaelic – there are 33,744 of them according to the last Census.

Gaelic is still strongest in the Western Isles and West Highlands. However, there are a significant number of Gaelic speakers in some of Scotland’s cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness and almost half of the Gaelic speakers in Scotland now stay out with the traditional heartland areas (the local authority areas: Na h-Eileanan Siar, Highland and Argyll and Bute).

There are a number of people among the ranks of Gaelic speakers today who have learnt the language, and Gaelic Medium Education and the advances in that sector give cause for hope with regard to the future of Gaelic. There are 3,086 pupils in Gaelic Medium Education at present (nurseries run by Local Authorities, primary schools, and secondary schools) and 3,641 take Gaelic as a subject at present in secondary schools (learners and fluent speakers). Also according to the last Census the number of Gaelic speakers aged between five and nine years old rose. There are also nearly 2,000 children registered in the pre-school groups of Comhairle nan Sgoiltean Àraich (the Gaelic pre-school organisation).

Duncan MacNiven, Registrar General for Scotland, said: "This report, based on detailed analysis of the 2001 Census, shows that Gaelic is thriving as well as declining. The number of Gaelic speakers fell by 7,300 during the 1990s. However, the number of Gaelic readers increased by 3,200 and the number of people able to write in Gaelic rose by 3,100.

"The Census suggests that Gaelic is declining in its traditional heartlands, particularly in the Western Isles, but growing in many other parts of Scotland – and among young people. Around 430 more young people, aged five to nine, could speak Gaelic in 2001 than in 1991. It is moving from being an oral language to being a language spoken, read and written." (From the Gaelic Report on the 2001 Census).