Editing Carmarthenshire (section)

== Demography and the Welsh language ==
Prior to the [[Industrial Revolution]], Carmarthen and [[Wrexham]] were the two most populous towns in Wales.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=POWELL|first=NIA|date=2005|title=Do numbers count? Towns in early modern Wales|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44613526|journal=Urban History|volume=32|issue=1|pages=46–67|doi=10.1017/S0963926805002695|jstor=44613526|s2cid=144824831 |issn=0963-9268}}</ref><ref name=Lloyd/> In 1931, the county's population was 171,445 and in 1951, 164,800. At the census in 2011, Carmarthenshire had a population of 183,777. Population levels have thus dipped and then increased again over the course of eighty years. The population density in Carmarthenshire is 0.8 persons per hectare compared to 1.5 per hectare in Wales as a whole.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/home/council-democracy/research-statistics/census-information#.VxCCF3rGA4A |title=Census information |work=2011 Census |publisher=Sir Gar Carmarthenshire |access-date=15 April 2016}}</ref>

Carmarthenshire was the most populous of the five historic counties of Wales to remain majority Welsh-speaking throughout the 20th century. According to the [[Census in the United Kingdom|1911 Census]], 84.9 per cent of the county's population were Welsh-speaking (compared with 43.5 per cent in all of Wales), with 20.5 per cent of Carmarthenshire's overall population being monolingual Welsh-speakers.<ref name="Census-Report">{{cite web|url=http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser2?ResourceType=Census&ResourceType=Legislation&SearchTerms=welsh%20speakers%201911&simple=yes&path=Results/Census/1911&active=yes&treestate=expandnew&titlepos=0&mno=156&tocstate=expandnew&tocseq=300&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=first-nonblank|title= Language spoken in Wales, 1911, Page iv|work=histpop.org}}</ref>

In 1931, 82.3 per cent could speak Welsh and in 1951, 75.2 per cent.<ref name="The Distribution of the Welsh Language 1931-1951">{{cite journal|jstor=1790647|title=The Distribution of the Welsh Language, 1931–1951|last1=Williams|first1=D. Trevor|journal=The Geographical Journal|year=1953|volume=119|issue=3|pages=331–335|doi=10.2307/1790647|bibcode=1953GeogJ.119..331W }}</ref> By the [[United Kingdom Census 2001|2001 census]], 50.3 per cent of people living in Carmarthenshire could speak Welsh, with 39 per cent being able to read and write the language as well.<ref name=CarCC_lang>{{cite web|title=Welsh Language Statistics |url=http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/english/council/facts%20and%20stats/populationanddemography/pages/welshlanguagestatistics.aspx |work=Statistics and Census Information: Population and Demography |publisher=Carmarthenshire County Council |access-date=5 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318011329/http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/english/council/facts%20and%20stats/populationanddemography/pages/welshlanguagestatistics.aspx |archive-date=18 March 2012}}</ref>

The 2011 census showed a further decline, with 43.9 per cent speaking Welsh, making it a minority language in the county for the first time.<ref>{{cite news |title=Carmarthenshire to research Welsh-language speaker drop |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-27037787 |newspaper=BBC News |date=15 April 2014 |access-date=15 April 2016}}</ref> However, the 2011 census also showed that 3,000 more people could understand spoken Welsh than in 2001 and that 60% of 5-14-year-olds could speak Welsh (a 5% increase since 2001).<ref name="The Welsh Language in Carmarthenshire">{{Cite web|url=https://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/media/1216437/welshlanguagecarms.pdf|title=The Welsh Language in Carmarthenshire}}</ref> A decade later, the 2021 census, showed further decrease, to 39.9% Welsh speakers—the largest percentage drop in all of Wales.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/11/welsh-language-speakers-census-carmathenshire|title='We don't want the language to die': Carmarthen residents speak up for Welsh|first=Steven|last=Morris|date=11 December 2022|work=The Guardian}}</ref>