Britain: An official handbook > 1977

Language
Distribution of
Population
BRITAIN 1977: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
to citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies; in consequence of an adoption
order; and, for aliens, by naturalisation. The requirements for naturalisation
include five years’ residence in the United Kingdom or Colonies, good character,
a sufficient knowledge of English and the intention to reside in the United
Kingdom or a colony. The requirements for registration are similar except
that most Commonwealth and Irish citizens settled in Britain by 1st January
1973 have the right to be registered after completing five years’ ordinary
residence without satisfying any other requirement. Some 64,600 people
acquired citizenship by naturalisation and registration in 1975.
A citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies does not forfeit his citizenship
by acquiring or possessing the nationality or citizenship of another country
(although he can lose it automatically if the territory from which he derives it
becomes independent); nor does a woman who is a citizen of the United King¬
dom and Colonies lose her citizenship by marriage to a foreign national.
Indeed, a citizen cannot be deprived of his citizenship against his will except
in very exceptional circumstances (for example, if he has obtained naturalisation
or registration as a citizen by fraud). Any man or woman who is a citizen is,
however, at liberty to renounce citizenship if he or she possesses or acquires the
nationality or citizenship of another country.
Citizens of the other independent Commonwealth countries are, in Umted
Kingdom law, British subjects or Commonwealth citizens and, as such, enjoy
full political and civic rights if resident in Britain.
A government review of United Kingdom nationality law is in progress.
In England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, English is the language
predominantly spoken. In Wales, however, Welsh, a form of British Celtic,
is the first language of the majority of the population in most of the western
counties and was spoken by 21 per cent of the population aged three years and
over (some 542,400 people) at the time of the 1971 census. The Welsh Language
Council, an official body, promotes the use of the language. 1 he \\ elsh Language
Act 1967 affirms the equal validity of Welsh with English in the administration
of justice and conduct of government business throughout Wales. The number
of bilingual schools is increasing. In Scotland some 88,000 persons in I971’
mainly in the Highlands and western coastal regions, were able to speak the
Scottish form of Gaelic. A few families in Northern Ireland still speak the
Irish form of Gaelic. The Manx and Cornish varieties of Celtic are no longer
effectively living languages, although there is a revival of cultural interest in
Cornish, and, in the Isle of Man, Manx is used in addition to English for certain
official pronouncements.
English is spoken throughout the Channel Islands, but a Norman-French
patois is still also spoken there by some people. In Jersey French is the official
and ceremonial language, although English is also used in the courts, in
Guernsey English is used in almost all official proceedings.
The population of England is, and has been for centuries, greater than that of all
other parts of Britain. The distribution of the British population by country, as
enumerated by censuses in 1901, 1931, 1961, and 1971 (or nearest possible
estimate) and estimated in i975> is shown in Table 2, which also gives figures
for the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
The standard regions of England, which are sub-divisions of the country
used for most statistical and economic planning purposes, have the following
populations (provisional mid-1975 estimates): East Anglia 1,780,400; East