Disappointing Manx figures in UK census

Out of almost 54 million people in England and Wales – there are just 33 speaking Manx.

New figures have been released by the UK’s Office of National Statistics based on the census which took place in 2011.

And it paints a miserable picture of the Manx language across the water.

Of the 33 people who described their main language as Manx gaelic, 32 are in England and by far the highest concentration is in London, where there are nine.

It’s a lonely language to speak in Wales, the Northeast, Yorkshire and the East of England, which have but a single Manx speaker each.

According to the ONS, there are almost twice as many people speaking Scottish – and the Manx-speaking tally is positively dwarfed by the half a million Polish speakers who filled in the census forms two years ago.