‘Beth yw’r ots gennyf i am Gymru?’: Astudiaeth o allfudo a dyheadau pobl ifanc o’r bröydd Cymraeg (‘Beth yw’r ots gennyf i am Gymru?’: The out-migration and aspirations of young people from the Welsh heartlands) (2017–19 Gwerddon Award Winner)

This article considers the out-migration of young people from the Welsh-speaking heartlands in terms of their aspirations and hopes for the future. The original doctoral research (2014), is based on Hywel Jones’ (2010) work, which argues that young people born outside of Wales are four times more likely to migrate from Wales than young people born here. The research attempts to establish the main factors that affect rates of out-migration among young people born outside of Wales and those born into non-native families. The article concludes that the main drivers of rates of out-migration among this group are factors such as sense of belonging and the extent of community integration, rather than solely economic factors. In particular, it examines how culture, nationality, and considerations pertaining to the Welsh language have an impact on this trend, which has important implications in terms of the linguistic retention of the ‘traditional’ Welsh speaking areas.