The Girona region and the Alt Pirineu, where Catalan is declining the most: this is the map of the language by territory

BarcelonaThe habitual use of Catalan is declining across all the districts of Catalonia. The Girona region, with a 9-point drop in habitual Catalan use in just five years, is the area most affected by this loss of language: it is now the sole habitual language of less than half the population (45%). The Alt Pirineu region has also seen a 9-point decline, but there Catalan is still the habitual language of 56% of the population. Following closely are areas like Terres de l'Ebre (where habitual Catalan use has fallen by 5 points) and Penedès (a 4.3-point drop), two regions where Catalan is losing ground and bilingual use of Catalan and Spanish, or Spanish alone, is on the rise. According to the latest data from the 2023 Survey of Language Use in the Population (EULP), the steepest declines compared to 2018 are occurring in some areas considered bastions of Catalan. The territories where the language remains most vibrant are precisely the Terres de l'Ebre (where 67% of the population speaks it as their sole language), followed by the central regions (60%), the Alt Pirineu (56%), and Ponent (51%); the only four territories where exclusively Catalan speakers constitute a majority.

The metropolitan area is what drastically lowers the average usage of Catalan because, if we look at it by territory, the rest of the country is all above that average. the average of 32% habitual use of Catalan aloneEven areas like Camp de Tarragona and Penedès, which are also experiencing significant population growth, are included. However, metropolitan areas are also where the most people are adopting Catalan without having spoken it at home.

This Thursday, Idescat and the Catalan Ministry of Language Policy released the territorial data from the Survey of Language Uses, which last February already indicated that Catalan is the habitual language of only a third of the population (32.6%), a figure that rises to 42% if we include those who use Catalan and Spanish. As seen in the general survey, the use of combined languages, whether Catalan and Spanish or other languages, is increasing, while monolingual use of Catalan as the sole language, as well as of Spanish, is decreasing. In the Girona region, for example, 31% identify with several languages simultaneously.

The decline in a context of high immigration dilutes the growth in the absolute number of Catalan speakers (117,000 more) and those who know the language (267,600 more). In fact, the number of people who know Catalan is increasing in all territorial areas, but proportionally, all territories are registering declines in the number of initial Catalan speakers and in their use of the language. The only exception is the central regions, where Catalan usage remains virtually unchanged from 2018 and even increases when Catalan is combined with other languages.

The evolution of Catalan is not only explained by immigration, but also by the specific type of immigration, high internal mobility, the aging population, and very specific dynamics in each territory, which show very different trends. This is a snapshot of the Catalan map from most to least used language:

More local, more robust

Terres de l'Ebre, central regions and Alt Pirineu

The Terres de l'Ebre, the central regions, and the Alt Pirineu are the regions where Catalan is strongest. Although 29% of the population was born abroad, the key is that over two-thirds of the population here was born in Catalonia, so the percentage of people whose first language is Catalan is still in the majority: it ranges from 48% in the central regions to 58% in the Ebro. Speakers who identify exclusively with Catalan always exceed 52%, reaching 56% in the Terres de l'Ebre, while very few people identify exclusively with Spanish in the Ebro (15%), the Alt Pirineu (22%), and the central regions (21%). With these figures, why does Catalan fall by 5 percentage points in the Ebro? This is because the number of initial Catalan speakers has fallen by 9 points, which can be attributed to the death and emigration of young Catalan speakers and the immigration of Spanish speakers. In the central regions, the use of Catalan remains stable compared to 2018, while the use of Spanish has declined by six points, perhaps due to the death of elderly Spanish speakers and the adoption of Catalan by subsequent generations.

Migrations without Catalan or Spanish

Speaker and Girona regions

In Ponent and the Girona region, Catalan is also used as the sole habitual language, significantly higher than the average, at 51% and 45% respectively. These figures are even higher than the percentage of inhabitants in these areas whose first language is Catalan – 45% in Ponent and 39% in Girona – demonstrating the strong appeal of Catalan in these regions. Why is Catalan declining by 9 points in Girona? These are territories with a high percentage of foreign-born residents (25%), and many of them (12%) identify with languages other than Catalan or Spanish. Girona, for example, which has become a haven for affluent expat cyclists, has lost 6 points in the percentage of first-time Catalan speakers due to the influx of foreigners.

Internal Mobility

Penedès and Camp de Tarragona

There are already some here. overtakingThe Penedès and Camp de Tarragona regions are impacted by internal migration (whether from elsewhere in Spain or from the metropolitan area), and already have a higher percentage of Spanish speakers than Catalan speakers. Spanish is the habitual language of 40-45% of the population, while only 31-35% speak Catalan at home. A specific effect in these areas, where Catalan usage is above the national average but Spanish surpasses Catalan, is that more people (10-12%) say their habitual languages ​​are both Catalan and Spanish. In fact, 5.4% of speakers say they combine both languages ​​at home.

Less Catalan, but more integration

Metropolitan area

The metropolitan area is where Catalan is most marginally spoken. Catalan is the home language for only 22% of the population and the habitual language of one in four inhabitants. Migration has a crucial impact on the linguistic landscape, as only 57% of the inhabitants were born there; 25% were born abroad and 18% in the rest of Spain. One in four inhabitants never speaks Catalan. Within this region, Maresme, Vallès Oriental, and Barcelona city would be in the upper range; Vallès Occidental and Baix Llobregat Nord would be in the middle range; and the areas where Catalan is only symbolically present are Barcelonès Nord (13% of the population whose first language is Catalan), Baix Llobregat Sud (11%), and Hospitalet de Llobregat (8.5%).

Despite this challenging context for Catalan, there is some good news: the number of speakers is increasing. Figures show that there are more regular Catalan speakers (35% say they use it half the time or more) than those who speak Catalan at home (22%; a 13-point difference). In other words, there are more users of Catalan, but with less intensity.

This is also happening in the city of Barcelona: the percentage of the population whose first language is Catalan has risen from 25% to 38.5% who use it regularly. In L'Hospitalet, usage has increased from 8.5% to 15.5%, and it has also risen by ten points in Barcelonès Nord and Baix Llobregat Sud. In these areas where Catalan is so marginal, it is difficult to live a life in Catalan. Therefore, the vast majority of Catalan speakers use Catalan alongside Spanish. The good news is that a portion of first-time Spanish speakers are also joining in these bilingual practices.

Aran is not included on the maps but is analyzed by the EULP. Aranese is the exclusive first language of 18.5% of the population and the sole habitual language of 23% of Aranese people.