About-Wales.com

A short introduction to Wales

In historic terms, Wales is one of the Celtic areas of the British Isles that was not conquered by the Angles and Saxons in the early Middle Ages. Wales has its own culture and traditions and its own Celtic language, Welsh. Today, though all children must learn Welsh in school, most of the population speak English as their main or only language, and according to the 2021 census, almost three quarters of the population do not understand the Welsh language. The Welsh language is an official language alongside English, and has equal official status.

Population and economy

In 2021, Wales had a population of 3.1 million, 5.2% of the total population of the United Kingdom. The population is largely concentrated in the south and southeast of the country, an area that includes the capital and largest city of Wales, Cardiff (Caerdydd in Welsh), and the second-largest city, Swansea. Yet with an ageing population, Wales is currently growing at a slower rate than other parts of the United Kingdom.

Over the past fifty years, the Welsh economy has suffered from a collapse in the coal industry and a major decline in Wales's other main industry, iron and steel. Official figures from the ONS show that its GDP fell by 2% between 2021 and 2022, more than any other statistical region in the UK.

Since prehistoric times, Wales has been important on account of its mineral resources, gold, iron, copper and tin - and since the 18th century, coal. Coal mines in South Wales were among the most important in Britain during the industrial age; but today they have almost all closed. The same is true for the steel industry, which still survives at Port Talbot, but employs far less people than in the past.

Today service industries make up the largest sector of the Welsh economy, as they do in all modern economies. Agriculture, notably sheep farming, remains very visible throughout rural Wales, providing up to 10% of employment in parts of mid and north Wales.

Administration

Like Scotland and Northern Ireland, Wales is a part of the UK that enjoys a degree of devolved government. Wales has its own government, the Welsh Assembly that meets in Cardiff. Although the Welsh Assembly does not have as much power as the Scottish Parliament, it is responsible for key economic decisions and for other vital sectors including health and education.

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