The results of the 2001 Census showed an increase in the number of Welsh speakers to 21% of the population aged 3 and older, compared with 18.7% in 1991 and 19.0% in 1981. This compares with a pattern of steady decline indicated by census results during the 20th century. The 2011 census showed that decline to have resumed. Though still higher than in 1991, the number of people aged 3 and over able to speak Welsh in Wales decreased from 582,000 (20.8 per cent) in 2001, to 562,000 (19.0 per cent) in 2011.