In last year’s UK Census 83,499 people across Cornwall, Wales, and England have declared their nationally as at least part Cornish.
Northern Ireland and Scotland’s figures are not included.
To do this people had to both know they were allowed to, and consciously decide to select ‘Other’ when confronted with a plethora of easy official tick box options, and write in ‘Cornish’.
In Cornwall this number is 73,220 or 14% of the population of Cornwall.
Even with rampant in-migration over the past 60 years and the centuries long out-migration it is estimated that this number severely undercounts Cornish nationality, by a factor of 3 or more – perhaps still an indigenous minority in their own land.
Without a tick box it is not possible to be more accurate. Take Wales and the Welsh for example and the huge leap from the numbers identifying as Welsh in the 2001 census (14%) with no tick box and the numbers with percentages now in the 50s.
Outside Cornwall there are small concentrations in cities like London, Plymouth, Cardiff and Bristol.
Those in Cornwall who identify as Cornish without any other national identity number 57,978.
The UK government of all persuasions has consistently failed to officially recognise the Cornish as a nationality or as an ethnic identity.
Over 12 months ago the 2nd Cornish National Report was delivered to the UK Government to meet EC requirements. It again sort recognition of the Cornish as a nation and ethnic identity – the silence is truly deafening!
Source: National identity data from the 2011 census. The numbers are in Table KS202EW
A Cornwall24.net reporter
14 December, 2012
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/census-data/index.html
http://celticcouncil.org.au/cornish/nsw/merlib/Cornish_Minority_Report_Two.pdf
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