Wellbeing of Wales 2026 - A Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language

A society that promotes and protects culture, heritage and the Welsh language, and which encourages people to participate in the arts, sports and recreation.

Progress towards this goal is mixed. Some areas have improved over the long term, including adult sport participation, museum and archive accreditation and the condition of listed buildings. But there has been less progress in other areas. Engagement with the arts has remained broadly stable for adults while it has improved in recent years for children. The condition of listed monuments has gradually worsened and the number of Welsh speakers has declined. Disparities across groups persist for many measures.

The national indicator on arts, culture and heritage has not changed considerably in the 3 years it has been collected. The most recent data from financial year 2022 to 2023 found that 72% of adults engaged in these activities at least 3 times a year.

Arts attendance among children increased to 87% in 2025, returning to the level seen in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Participation in arts activities stood at 84% in 2025. Although participation has generally decreased since 2015, it has been broadly stable in recent years.

More museums and archive services are meeting accredited standards. Between 2017 and 2026, the percentage of archive services meeting accredited standards has increased from 39% to 73% and the percentage of museums from 59% to 62%.

Regular sports participation fell in financial year 2024 to 2025, with 35% of adults taking part in sport 3 or more times a week. But over the long term the percentage of adults regularly taking part in sport has been increasing. Males, people living in less deprived areas, those in good health and Welsh speakers are more likely to participate in sports regularly.

Sports participation amongst school pupils had increased previously but in 2022, the latest year of data, fell back to similar levels seen in 2013.

The number and percentage of people able to speak Welsh fell according to Census 2021, with the percentage now the lowest ever recorded in a census. There is a national milestone for one million Welsh speakers by 2050. According to the census, 538,000 people were able to speak Welsh in 2021, down from close to one million in 1911.

Survey data suggests an increase in non-fluent Welsh speakers over the long term. The percentage of Welsh speakers that use the language every day has been fairly stable, and currently stands at 11%.

Conditions of listed buildings in Wales have improved slightly since 2015, while the conditions of scheduled monuments have worsened but have stabilised over recent years.

There is no new National Survey for Wales data this year, this means there is no update on national indicators related to arts for adults or for sports participation in 2026.

The latest data for the national indicator on arts, culture and heritage shows relatively stable attendance and participation over recent years. In financial year 2022 to 2023, 72% of adults engaged in these activities at least 3 times a year, similar to previous years. Younger adults, those with higher qualifications and people living in less deprived areas were more likely to attend or participate in these activities.

Figure 6.1: adults attending or participating in arts, culture and heritage 3 or more times a year, between financial years 2017 to 2018 and 2022 to 2023

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Description of figure 6.1: a bar chart showing 3 years of data for the national indicator on regularly attending or participating in arts, culture and heritage. There are no significant differences between financial year 2022 to 2023 and the previous years this indicator was measured.

Source: National Survey for Wales

Attendance among children fell between 2018 and 2023 but has increased over the last 2 years to stand at 87% in 2025. This is the same level as in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Participation among children has been gradually falling since 2015 and has been fairly stable in recent years. In 2025, 84% of children participated in at least one art form.

Attendance and participation in arts remained higher among girls and children from higher social grades. The gap between boys and girls, and between children from different socio-economic groups, widened for both attendance and participation in 2025.

Children aged 7 to 10 years continue to have the highest rates of attendance and participation. However, the gap between groups narrowed in 2025 due to increases in both attendance and participation among 16 to 18 year olds.

Figure 6.2: children attending or participating in the arts at least once a year, 2013 to 2025 [Note 1]

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Description of figure 6.2: a line chart showing that attendance in the arts among children has increased since 2023 after falling from a peak in 2018. Participation has gradually decreased since 2015 remaining fairly stable in recent years.

Source: Arts Council of Wales

[Note 1] : The y-axis does not start at zero.

According to the latest data, 99 museums met accreditation standards in 2026, the same number as last year. The total number and proportion of accredited museums has remained relatively stable over recent years, with 62% now accredited compared to 59% in 2017.

In 2026, 16 archive services met the accreditation standard, one more than in 2025. The number and percentage of accredited archive services has increased over time with 73% now accredited, up from 39% in 2017.

Revision to archives data

Historical figures on archives accreditation have been revised to ensure the indicator definition is applied consistently across all years. Further details are provided in the quality report.

The percentage of accredited archive services for 2025 has been revised from 88% to 68%. The number of archive services in 2025 remains unchanged at 15.

The latest data from financial year 2024 to 2025 showed that 35% of adults take part in sport 3 or more times a week. This is lower than in 2022 to 2023 when the percentage was 39% but over the longer term participation has increased. In 2016 to 2017 the rate was 29%.

Regular sports participation decreases with age. An estimated 52% of 16 to 24 year olds take part in sport regularly, compared with 12% of those aged 75 and over.

Males are more likely to participate in sport 3 or more times per week than females, at 40% compared with 32%. Adults living in the most deprived areas are less likely to participate regularly than those living in the least deprived.

Adults with a limiting long-term illness are less than half as likely to participate regularly as those without, at 21% compared with 44%. Compared with the 2022 to 2023 survey year, there was a 6 percentage point decrease in regular participation among adults with a limiting long-term illness while the proportion of those without remained similar.

The percentage of regular sports participation is higher among adults who speak Welsh every day, at 40%, compared with 35% for those who do not use Welsh daily.

41% of adults do not take part in any sport, a figure which has remained broadly unchanged over many years. However, 35% of people said they want to do more sport or physical activity, an increase from 27% in 2022 to 2023.

Figure 6.3: percentage of adults participating in sport 3 or more times a week, between financial years 2016 to 2017 and 2024 to 2025

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Description of figure 6.3: line chart showing the percentage of adults taking part in sport 3 or more times a week, which has increased over the long term.

Source: National Survey for Wales

Children's participation in organized sport outside the curriculum has decreased, with only 39% of pupils taking part 3 or more times a week in 2022, down from 48% in 2018. This reflects the lowest figure ever recorded by the School Sport Survey. Despite this decline, 93% of pupils expressed a desire to do more sport.

Figure 6.4: percentage of children participating in sport 3 or more times a week, 2013 to 2022

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Description of figure 6.4: a line chart showing the percentage of children regularly participating in sport. Participation has fallen back to a similar level seen in 2013.

Source: School Sport Survey

We consider the census to be the main source of information on the number of people who can speak Welsh in Wales. According to Census 2021, 17.8% of people aged 3 years or older in Wales can speak Welsh. This is down from 19.0% in 2011 and is the lowest percentage ever recorded on a census.

The national milestone on Welsh language is for one million Welsh speakers by 2050. Over the long term, the number of Welsh speakers has been falling from almost one million people in 1911 to 538,000 now. The decrease in Welsh speakers in 2021 was primarily due to fewer children and young people reported as able to speak Welsh. The 2021 Census, held during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed lockdowns and remote learning which may have influenced people's reported Welsh language ability.

Figure 6.5: people aged 3 years and older able to speak Welsh, 1911 to 2021 [Note 1]

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Description of figure 6.5: a line chart showing the number of people able to speak Welsh since 1911. Numbers fell substantially in the first half of the 20th century, with smaller changes since.

[Note 1] There was no census in 1941.

Source: Census of Population

Since 2011, estimates from the National Survey for Wales of people who have more than some Welsh-speaking ability have remained stable at around 19%, but there has been an increase in people who say they have some Welsh-speaking ability.

The latest Welsh language use survey shows there has been little change in how often people speak Welsh.

In July 2019 to March 2020, 10% of people aged 3 or older spoke Welsh daily and could speak more than just a few words of Welsh. This is unchanged from the previous survey in April 2013 to March 2015. More recent data from the National Survey for Wales for people aged 16 or older also suggests there has been little overall change in the rate of people using Welsh daily.

According to the National Survey for Wales, the percentage of people aged 16 years or older who are fluent in Welsh has remained relatively unchanged over the last 10 years, at around 10 to 11%. However, over the long term, there have been increases in Welsh speakers who are not fluent. Fluent Welsh speakers speak the language more often than those who are not fluent.

Each year Cadw assesses the conditions of a sample of listed buildings and scheduled monuments in Wales. Listed buildings are those of special or architectural interest in Wales, while scheduled monuments represent archaeological sites of national importance. Conditions of listed buildings in Wales have improved slightly since 2015, while the conditions of scheduled monuments have gradually worsened.

There are just over 30,000 listed buildings in Wales, with 76% in a stable or improving condition in 2026, up slightly from 74% in 2015. 9% of listed buildings are classed as being at risk.

A sample of scheduled monuments is assessed each year as part of a 10-year rolling programme. This shows that the condition of the 4,200 monuments in Wales has declined since 2016 to 2017 but has stabilised in recent years. The proportion of monuments in stable or improving condition fell from 66% in 2016 to 2017 to 58% in 2023 to 2024 and has remained at that level since. Around 15% are considered at risk, mainly due to weathering, vegetation encroachment and erosion.

Figure 6.6: percentage of scheduled monuments that are in a stable or improving condition, financial years ending 2012 to 2026

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Description of figure 6.6: a line chart showing the share of monuments that are in a stable or improving condition. The percentage has gradually fallen since 2016 to 2017 but has stabilised over recent years.

Source: Cadw

Previous versions of the Wellbeing of Wales report include further analysis of:

• taking part in volunteering or in arts or sports activities
• barriers to participation in arts and differences between socio-economic and population groups in arts and sports participation
• the types of arts activities people have participated in
• use of Welsh language by children and young people, and use of Welsh in social and work contexts
• links between Welsh language and arts and culture events
• ethnicity and arts, culture, sport and Welsh language
• visits to museums and archives

The Arts Council of Wales and Sport Wales produce regular in-depth reports on arts and sports. This includes the Children’s Omnibus Survey and the School Sport Survey.

A range of analysis on the Welsh language is also available from Census 2021, and in Welsh Language Use Survey reports for financial year 2019 to 2020.