Page "Breton language" Paragraph 6

Today, due to the political centralization of France and the important influence of the media, only about 200, 000 people are able to speak Breton, a figure down from more than a million in 1950, of which the majority is more than 60 years old.

At the beginning of the 20th century, half of the population of Lower Brittany knew only Breton, the other half being bilingual.

By 1950, there were only 100, 000 monolingual Bretons, and a rapid decline since, with likely no monolingual speakers left today.

A statistical survey in 1997 found around 300, 000 speakers in Breizh izel, of which about 190, 000 were aged 60 or over.

Few of those of the 15-19 year-old age-group spoke Breton, which is now considered to be an endangered language.