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In 2024/25, 19% of the adult population had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots, similar to the 2022/23 figure of 17%.
A higher proportion of adults from the Protestant community (29%) had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots compared to adults from the Catholic community (13%).
Just over one in twenty adults in Northern Ireland used Ulster-Scots at home (6%), conversing with family or housemates, and socially (7%), to converse with friends or acquaintances, either on a daily basis or at least very occasionally.
Introduction
The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement committed the Government to ‘recognise the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity, including in Northern Ireland, the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the languages of the various ethnic minorities, all of which are part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland.’ With the 2022 Identity and Language Act, Irish gained legal recognition in Northern Ireland and three new offices were established to promote and support linguistic and cultural identity by Northern Ireland’s public authorities. In addition, the NI Executive has a statutory duty to adopt strategies setting out how it proposes to enhance and protect the development of the Irish language, and to enhance and develop the Ulster-Scots language, heritage and culture. The Department for Communities (DfC) leads in the development of these strategies and, through sponsorship of the North-South Language Body, in promoting the use of Irish and Ulster-Scots across all NI Government Departments and agencies.
This report provides findings from the 2024/25 Continuous Household Survey (CHS) on the knowledge and use of Ulster-Scots by adults in Northern Ireland. This is a biennial publication, with questions on knowledge and use of Ulster Scots previously included in the 2022/23 CHS. These findings are used to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy. More information relating to the CHS, methodology, definitions and the interpretation of the figures can be found in the Technical notes and Definitions sections. Data tables accompanying this publication and the questions that were asked in the CHS 2024/25 are available on the DfC website.
Note: Data collection for the 2024/25 CHS was carried out using a mix of telephone and face-to-face interviewing modes, a similar approach to that used in 2022/23 and 2023/24. For 2020/21 and 2021/22 data collection was by telephone interviewing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There was also a reduction in the number of questions between 2020/21-2022/23. As a result, the figures from 2020/21 onwards are not directly comparable to previous years due to the significant changes to the survey in terms of methodology and content. More information is available on the NISRA website.
Lead statistician: Clair Stewart
Knowledge of Ulster-Scots
The proportion of adults in 2024/25 who had some knowledge of
Ulster-Scots (i.e. who can understand, speak, read or write Ulster-Scots
or any combination of these skills) was 19%, similar to the 2022/23
figure of 17%.
In 2024/25, males were more likely to have had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots compared to females (21% and 17% respectively). When looking at age group, the proportions of adults who had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots generally increased as age group increased, particularly beyond the 35-44 years age group.
In 2024/25, a higher proportion of adults from the Protestant community (29%) had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots compared to adults from the Catholic community (13%). Similarly, adults who live in the least deprived areas were more likely than those living in the most deprived areas to have had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots (27% and 11% respectively).
Similar proportions of adults living in urban and rural areas had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots (18% and 20% respectively). In addition, there was no difference in knowledge of Ulster-Scots between adults who have a disability and those who do not have a disability (both 19%) and between adults who have dependants (18%) and those who do not have dependants (19%).
Ability to understand, speak, read and write Ulster-Scots
Around one in six adults (17%) can understand Ulster-Scots, whilst 4% of the adult population can speak Ulster-Scots, 3% can read Ulster-Scots and 1% said they could write Ulster-Scots.
Use of Ulster-Scots
In 2024/25, just over one in twenty adults in Northern Ireland use Ulster-Scots at home (6%), conversing with family or housemates, and socially (7%), to converse with friends or acquaintances, either on a daily basis or at least very occasionally.
Technical notes
Continuous Household Survey
The Continuous Household Survey is a Northern Ireland wide household survey administered by Central Survey Unit, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The sample for this survey consisted of a systematic random sample of 8,940 addresses selected from the NISRA Address Register. The findings reported for 2024/25 for languages are based on 2,267 respondents, aged 16 and over.
Note: Data collection for the 2024/25 CHS was carried out using a mix of telephone and face-to-face interviewing modes, a similar approach to that used in 2022/23 and 2023/24. For 2020/21 and 2021/22 data collection was by telephone interviewing due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There was also a reduction in the number of questions between 2020/21-2022/23. As a result, the figures from 2020/21 onwards are not directly comparable to previous years due to the significant changes to the survey in terms of methodology and content. More information is available on the NISRA website.
Results of the user survey conducted during summer 2025
An online public survey on the use of the culture, arts, heritage, sport and language official statistics publications produced by Analytics Division was carried out during the summer 2025. The report linked below summarises the findings from that survey which were used to inform the content of the 2024/25 edition of this report: Outcomes of the survey on the use of the culture, arts, heritage, sport and language official statistics publications. Analytics Division welcomes further feedback on the publications, contact us directly with any comments – email: analyticsdivision@communities-ni.gov.uk.
Weighting the Continuous Household Survey
Analysis of the language module of the CHS has been weighted for non-response. A chi square goodness-of-fit test showed that the CHS sample for languages (2,267) was not representative of the population by age and sex when compared with the 2023 Mid Year Estimates for Northern Ireland NISRA 19 September 2024. As a result, separate weights were produced for age, sex and age and sex combined.
Non-response weighting sometimes increases standard errors, although the impact tends to be fairly small, i.e. the adjustment may be less or greater than 1, but will generally be reasonably close to 1. In the case of the language module of the CHS, the values of the adjustment for all three weighting systems are so close to one, it is not necessary to take account of this in the calculation of standard error and confidence intervals.
While weighting for non-response (also called post-stratification) should reduce bias, it must be acknowledged that it will not eliminate bias. The reasons individuals choose to take part in surveys are complex and depend on lots of factors specific to the individual. As a result, the non-response biases in surveys are likely to be complex. Post-stratification works on the assumption that, by aligning the survey to the population along a small number of dimensions such as age and sex, many of these complex biases will reduce. However, it would be misleading to suggest that they will be eliminated.
Statistical significance in this report
Any statements in this report regarding differences between years or groups are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. This means that we can be 95% confident that the differences between groups are actual differences and have not just arisen by chance. The base numbers and sizes of the percentages have an effect on statistical significance. Therefore on occasion, a difference between two groups may be statistically significant while the same difference in percentage points between two other groups may not be statistically significant. The reason for this is because the larger the base numbers or the closer the percentages are to 0 or 100, the smaller the standard errors. This leads to increased precision of the estimates which increases the likelihood that the difference between the proportions is actually significant and has not just arisen by chance.
Official Statistics
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. Contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards - email:analyticsdivision@communities-ni.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
Other notes
The following should be noted when interpreting figures and tables:
Definitions
Knowledge of Ulster-Scots — Can understand, speak, read or write Ulster-Scots or any combination of these skills.