1: There are five cities in total in Wales — in addition to the three unitary authorities listed above, the of Bangor & St. David's also have the status of a city. St. Asaph also sometimes claims city status, but the government considers that its has lapsed.

Economy

Parts of Wales have been heavily industrialised since the eighteenth century. Coal, copper, iron, lead, and gold have been mined in Wales, and slate has been quarried. Ironworks and tinplate works, along with the coal mines, attracted large numbers of immigrants during the nineteenth century, particularly to the valleys north of Cardiff. Due to the poor quality soil, much of Wales is unsuitable for crop-growing, and livestock farming has traditionally been the focus of agriculture. The Welsh landscape, protected by three National Parks, and the unique Welsh culture bring in tourism, which is especially vital for rural areas.

Light engineering is still an important activity in the main population areas of the South and extreme North-East, but the economy, as elsewhere in the UK, is now focused on the service sector.

Food

Main article:

About 80% of the land surface of Wales is given over to agricultural use. Very little of this is though as the vast majority consists of permanent grass or rough grazing for herd animals. Although both and are raised widely, especially in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, Wales is more well-known for its farming, and thus lamb is the meat traditionally associated with Welsh cooking.

is usually made from local ingredients. Some traditional dishes include (made from ), (fruit cake), (leek stew), , , and Welsh . A type of shellfish, , is often served with breakfast.

Demographics

Demographics of Wales as at the 2001 Census:

Population: 2,903,085, Male: 1,403,782 Female: 1,499,303

Percentage of the population born in:

England: 20.32%

Wales: 75.39%

Scotland: 0.84%

Northern Ireland: 0.27%

Republic of Ireland: 0.44%

Ethnic groups:

White: British: 95.99%

White: Irish: 0.61%

White: other: 1.28%

Mixed: white and black: 0.29%

Mixed: white and Asian: 0.17%

Mixed: other: 0.15%

Asian:

Indian/British Indian: 0.28%

Pakistani/British Pakistani: 0.29%

Bangladeshi/British Bangladeshi: 0.19%

Other Asian: 0.12%

Black: 0.25%

Chinese: 0.40%

Percentage of the British population self-identifying as Welsh: 14.39% (controversially, there was no question on the Census form asking this — people had to write this in).

Religion:

Christian: 71.9%

Buddhist: 0.19%

Hindu: 0.19%

Jewish: 0.08%

Muslim: 0.75%

Sikh: 0.07%

Other religion: 0.24%

No religion: 18.53%

Not disclosed: 8.07%

The largest single denomination of Wales is Calvinist , which by far is the largest single denomination, followed by the (Eglwys Catholig Rufeinig) and the Episcopalian (Anglican) (Eglwys yng Nghymru) with 3% of the population each, and the Congregationalist (Undeb yr Annibynwyr Cymraeg) and the (Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru) with 1% of the population each.

Age structure of the population:

0-4: 167,903

5-7: 108,149

8-9: 77,176

10-14: 195,976

15: 37,951

16-17: 75,234

18-19: 71,519

20-24: 169,493

25-29: 166,348

30-44: 605,962

45-59: 569,676

60-64: 152,924

65-74: 264,191

75-84: 182,202

85-89: 38,977

90+: 19,404

Knowledge of the Welsh language:

Percentage of the population aged 3 or more knowing spoken Welsh only: 4.93%

Percentage of the population aged 3 or more speaking Welsh but not reading or writing it: 2.83%

Percentage of the population aged 3 or more speaking and reading Welsh but not writing it: 1.37%

Percentage of the population aged 3 or more speaking, reading, and writing Welsh: 16.32%

Percentage of the population aged 3 or more with some other skills combination: 2.98%

Percentage of the population aged 3 or more with no knowledge of Welsh: 71.57%

In , , and , Welsh speakers are in the majority.

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of Welsh speakers, but Carmarthenshire has the highest number of them in any one principal area.

According to www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html, 26% of the population are knowledgeable of .