Wales: official figures: your questions answered
Welsh population, income tax, NHS Wales waits, 20mph data, Welsh speakers, the Senedd voting system, PISA, GDP, budget and council tax.
How many Welsh speakers are there?
Census 2021 found 538,300 people aged three and over in Wales able to speak Welsh, 17.8% of that population and down from 19.0% in 2011, according to the ONS Welsh language census bulletin. The Welsh Government treats the census as the key source for counting Welsh speakers.
Related: What is the population of Wales? · Where can I find UK census data?
How does the new Senedd voting system work?
Since the 2026 election the Senedd has 96 Members elected from 16 constituencies, each returning six Members by a closed proportional list system: voters choose a party or an independent candidate, not individual candidates on a list. The constituencies pair the 32 UK Parliament seats in Wales, replacing the old 40 constituencies and five regions, according to the Senedd's reform FAQs. Elections are now every four years.
Related: Where can I find official UK election results? · How do Scottish Parliament elections work? · How do Northern Ireland Assembly elections work?
How much is council tax in Wales?
Average Band D council tax in Wales for 2026-27 is £2,283, up £113 or 5.2% on the year, ranging from £2,013 in Cardiff to £2,594 in Merthyr Tydfil, according to the Welsh Government's council tax levels release of 24 March 2026. The figure includes county council, police and community council charges.
Related: How much has council tax gone up this year? · How much is council tax in Scotland? · How are domestic rates calculated in Northern Ireland?
What is the population of Wales?
The population of Wales was estimated at 3,175,200 in mid-2025, a fall of 2,800 on the year and the first decrease since mid-2015, according to the ONS population estimates for England and Wales, published on 29 July 2026. Deaths exceeded births; migration added people but did not offset the gap.
Related: What is the population of the UK? · What is the population of Scotland? · What is the population of Northern Ireland? · How many Welsh speakers are there?
What does the data show about the 20mph limit in Wales?
Wales changed the default limit on restricted roads, mostly residential streets, from 30mph to 20mph on 17 September 2023. In 2025 police recorded 3,004 road collisions and 4,078 casualties in Wales, casualties 8% lower than in 2022, the last full year before the change, according to the Welsh Government's road collisions and casualties 2025 release of 4 June 2026.
Full answer, with the latest figure and past values →
Related: How many people die on UK roads each year? · Where can I find road traffic statistics?
What are the Land Transaction Tax rates in Wales?
Land Transaction Tax replaced stamp duty in Wales in 2018. For a main home the Welsh Revenue Authority's rates and bands charge 0% on the portion up to £225,000, 6% to £400,000, 7.5% to £750,000, 10% to £1.5 million and 12% above that. Higher rates apply to additional homes and were last changed from 11 December 2024. There is no separate first-time buyer relief.
The WRA publishes monthly Land Transaction Tax statistics on transactions and tax due by type and local authority, and a calculator for individual purchases.
Rates depend on the effective date, usually completion, so check which rates applied when comparing with stamp duty in England or LBTT in Scotland.
Related: What is the average house price in the UK? · How much is council tax in Wales?
How do Welsh rates of income tax work?
Since April 2019 the UK government has cut each of the three income tax rates paid by Welsh taxpayers by 10 percentage points, and the Welsh Government sets a Welsh rate for each band that is added back, as its Welsh rates of income tax page explains. So far the combined rates have matched those in England and Northern Ireland; for 2026 to 2027 they are on GOV.UK.
HMRC collects the tax. Its Welsh income tax outturn statistics, published on 9 July 2026, put the Welsh rates' yield at £3,300 million in 2024 to 2025, out of £7,765 million of non-savings income tax paid by Welsh taxpayers. Bands, the Personal Allowance and savings and dividend tax stay UK-wide.
The bands are covered in income tax bands outside Scotland.
Related: What are the income tax bands in England, Wales and Northern Ireland? · How much does Scottish income tax raise, and does it stay in Scotland? · How much income tax does the UK raise? · How big is the Welsh Government budget?
What is the GDP of Wales?
The ONS publishes annual GDP and gross value added for Wales in its regional GDP release. The edition published on 23 September 2026 covered 1998 to 2024 and showed real GDP in Wales growing 0.5% in 2024, the smallest rise of the UK's nations and regions, against 1.1% for the UK.
Cash GDP, GDP per head and figures for Welsh local areas are in the ONS tables, and the Welsh Government summarises them for Wales in its regional GDP and GVA release. Labour market figures are in its economic profiles.
GDP per head is affected by commuting across the border and by Wales's older age profile, so check whether a claim uses per head or per job measures.
Related: How big is the UK economy (GDP)? · What is UK GDP per capita? · What is Scotland's GDP? · How is the Northern Ireland economy doing?
How big is the Welsh Government budget?
The Welsh Government publishes a draft budget in the autumn and a final budget early in the year for the next financial year. For 2026 to 2027 the draft budget was published in October 2025 and the final budget documents, with an explainer and spending plans by portfolio, followed in January 2026.
Most funding is the UK block grant, with changes set by the Barnett formula and shown in HM Treasury's Block Grant Transparency tables. Welsh rates of income tax, Land Transaction Tax and Landfill Disposals Tax add devolved revenue, and Senedd Research publishes guides to each budget.
Budget totals mix day-to-day and capital spending, so check which a claim uses.
Related: How much does Scotland get from the Barnett formula? · How do Welsh rates of income tax work? · How is UK tax revenue spent?
How long are NHS Wales waiting lists?
There were just under 709,700 referral to treatment pathways waiting in Wales at the end of July 2026, and management information suggested about 555,200 individual patients, according to the Welsh Government's NHS activity and performance summary published on 17 September 2026. Just over 4,700 pathways had waited more than two years.
The monthly summary also covers emergency department times, ambulance responses, diagnostics, therapies and cancer, with detail by health board on StatsWales. Welsh ambulance categories changed in 2025, so newer figures are not comparable with earlier red, amber and green data.
Welsh pathway counts include diagnostic and therapy waits that England's list excludes, so the two totals are not like for like.
Related: What are NHS waiting times in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? · How long is the NHS waiting list? · How long are NHS Scotland waiting times?
Where can I find GCSE results for Wales?
The Welsh Government publishes examination results for Year 11 GCSEs and A levels in maintained schools, with provisional figures in the autumn and final figures later. The provisional release for September 2025 to August 2026 came out on 8 October 2026, with grade distributions by pupil characteristics and headline indicators such as Capped 9 points.
Qualifications Wales, the regulator, publishes results-day data for all entries. School-level information is on the Welsh Government's My Local School service rather than in league tables.
Exam arrangements changed between 2020 and 2024, so the Welsh Government advises caution when comparing years. For England, see GCSE results statistics.
Related: Where can I find official GCSE results statistics? · How did Wales do in PISA? · Where can I find SQA exam results statistics?
How did Wales do in PISA?
In PISA 2025, Wales scored 476 in science (significantly below the OECD average of 482), 459 in reading (not significantly different from the OECD average of 461) and 456 in mathematics (significantly below the OECD average of 463), according to the Welsh Government's PISA 2025 national report, published on 8 September 2026. The maths score was significantly lower than in 2022, 2018 and 2015.
The test was taken by 3,406 fifteen-year-olds in 113 Welsh schools. Earlier reports are on the PISA national reports page, and the OECD publishes results for every country.
PISA scores are sample estimates, so only differences marked as statistically significant should be treated as real changes or gaps.
Related: Where can I find GCSE results for Wales? · How does UK GDP compare with other countries?
These answers say where official figures are published and how they are defined. They give no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request.