The Welsh Language Society (or Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg as they would no doubt prefer to be called) is asking the Welsh government to create new legislation to ensure the protection of the Welsh language. The call for more legislation comes after disappointing census results which detail the decline in Welsh speakers including a fall in the traditionally Welsh speaking areas Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.

According to the BBC ‘around 300 people attended a rally in Caernarfon to launch the campaign’ in which The Welsh Language society outline their wish for ‘the Welsh government to quadruple the amount invested in developing and protecting the language.’

The census figures published on Tuesday recorded an overall drop of 2% in the number of people who speak Welsh in Wales, to 562,016. That represents 19% of the population in Wales.

In the two historical Welsh-speaking heartlands of Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion – the drop was far more marked.

In Carmarthenshire, 43.9% of the population aged over three said they could speak Welsh in 2011, down from 50.3% in 2001 and 54.9% in 1991

In Ceredigion it was 47.3% in 2011, down from 52% in 2001.

via: BBC News