Editing Scottish Gaelic (section)

===Distribution in Scotland===

[[File:WIKITONGUES- Iain speaking Scottish Gaelic.webm|thumb|A Scottish Gaelic speaker, recorded in [[Scotland]].]]

{{anchor|Current distribution in Scotland|reason=Old section name (may be linked); "current" doesn't mean anything concrete.}}
The [[2011 UK Census]] showed a total of 57,375 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.1% of population over three years old), of whom only 32,400 could also read and write the language.<ref>[http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ods-web/data-warehouse.html 2011 Census of Scotland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604200212/http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ods-web/data-warehouse.html |date=4 June 2014 }}, Table QS211SC. Viewed 23 June 2014.</ref> Compared with the 2001 Census, there has been a diminution of about 1300 people.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030405062501/http://www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/common/home.jsp Scotland's Census Results Online (SCROL)], Table UV12. Viewed 23 June 2014.</ref> This is the smallest drop between censuses since the Gaelic-language question was first asked in 1881. The Scottish government's language minister and {{lang|gd|Bòrd na Gàidhlig}} took this as evidence that Gaelic's long decline has slowed.<ref>{{cite news |title=Census shows decline in Gaelic speakers 'slowed' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24281487 |access-date=23 June 2014 |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=26 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705191626/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24281487 |archive-date=5 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Outer Hebrides ({{lang|gd|Na h-Eileanan Siar}}), where the overall proportion of speakers is 52.2%. Important pockets of the language also exist in the [[Highland (council area)|Highlands]] (5.4%) and in [[Argyll and Bute]] (4.0%) and [[Inverness]] (4.9%). The locality with the largest absolute number is [[Glasgow]] with 5,878 such persons, who make up over 10% of all of Scotland's Gaelic speakers.
[[file:Cumbernauld Gaelic Choir at Rotary event in 2021 2.jpg|left|thumb|Cumbernauld Gaelic Choir in 2021]]
Gaelic continues to decline in its traditional heartland. Between 2001 and 2011, the absolute number of Gaelic speakers fell sharply in the Western Isles (−1,745), Argyll & Bute (−694), and Highland (−634). The drop in [[Stornoway]], the largest parish in the Western Isles by population, was especially acute, from 57.5% of the population in 1991 to 43.4% in 2011.<ref>{{cite news |title=Census shows Gaelic declining in its heartlands |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24955839 |access-date=23 June 2014 |work=[[BBC News Online]] |date=15 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705190857/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24955839 |archive-date=5 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The only parish outside the Western Isles over 40% Gaelic-speaking is [[Kilmuir, Skye|Kilmuir]] in Northern [[Isle of Skye|Skye]] at 46%. The islands in the [[Inner Hebrides]] with significant percentages of Gaelic speakers are [[Tiree]] (38.3%), [[Raasay]] (30.4%), [[Skye]] (29.4%), [[Lismore, Scotland|Lismore]] (26.9%), [[Colonsay]] (20.2%), and [[Islay]] (19.0%).

Today, no [[Civil parishes in Scotland|civil parish]] in Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 65% (the highest value is in [[Barvas]], [[Isle of Lewis|Lewis]], with 64.1%). In addition, no civil parish on mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 20% (the highest is in [[Ardnamurchan]], [[Highland (council area)|Highland]], with 19.3%). Out of a total of 871 civil parishes in Scotland, the proportion of Gaelic speakers exceeds 50% in seven parishes, 25% in 14 parishes, and 10% in 35 parishes.

Decline in traditional areas has recently been balanced by growth in the [[Scottish Lowlands]]. Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the number of Gaelic speakers rose in nineteen of the country's 32 council areas. The largest absolute gains were in [[Aberdeenshire]] (+526), [[North Lanarkshire]] (+305), the [[Aberdeen City Council|Aberdeen City council area]] (+216), and [[East Ayrshire]] (+208). The largest relative gains were in Aberdeenshire (+0.19%), East Ayrshire (+0.18%), [[Moray]] (+0.16%), and [[Orkney Islands|Orkney]] (+0.13%).{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}

In 2018, the census of pupils in Scotland showed 520 students in publicly funded schools had Gaelic as the main language at home, an increase of 5% from 497 in 2014. During the same period, [[Gaelic medium education in Scotland]] has grown, with 4,343 pupils (6.3 per 1000) being educated in a Gaelic-immersion environment in 2018, up from 3,583 pupils (5.3 per 1000) in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pupil Census Supplementary Data |url=https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dspupcensus |website=The Scottish Government |access-date=20 May 2019 |date=7 December 2011 |archive-date=9 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709123743/https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dspupcensus |url-status=dead }}</ref> Data collected in 2007–2008 indicated that even among pupils enrolled in Gaelic medium schools, 81% of primary students and 74% of secondary students report using English more often than Gaelic when speaking with their mothers at home.<ref name="O'Hanlon 2012">{{Cite thesis |last=O'Hanlon |first=Fiona |year=2012 |title=Lost in transition? Celtic language revitalization in Scotland and Wales: the primary to secondary school stage |publisher=The University of Edinburgh }}</ref> The effect on this of the [[#Education|significant increase in pupils in Gaelic-medium education]] since that time is unknown.