Nevertheless, the 2011 census recorded a drop of Welsh speakers overall, from 582,000 in 2001 to 562,000 in 2011, despite an increase in the size of the population-a 2% drop (from 21% to 19%) in the proportion of Welsh speakers [REF].
The Gaelic language was given official recognition for the first time in Scotland in 2005, by the Scottish Parliament's Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, which aims to promote the Gaelic language to a status "commanding equal respect" with English.