The Catalan it continues to be the language to which the population spends more time speaking it, but Spanish shortens distances. The 2026 survey of language knowledge and usage, presented today by the Minister of Culture, Mònica Bonell; the director of department of Linguistic Policy, Joan Sans; i Joan Micó, coordinator of the AR+I sociology groupplaces Catalan in the 45.3% of usage timecompared to 41.4% of Spanish. The comparison with the last survey, from 2022, shows an uneven evolution: Catalan has lost 2.8 points percentages, while the Spanish won four. The sample collects the opinion of 752 respondentschosen at random.
The results also show differences in the presence of Catalan according to professional sectors. In attention to publicthe language is gaining ground in sectors such as healthcare, commerce and financial services, but is falling behind in restaurants, public transport and nightlife.
Specifically, the percentage of people who are treated exclusively in Catalan at general practitioners has gone from 61% in 2022 64% this year. For specialists, the increase is 2.5 pointsup to 54.5%. Exclusive attention in Catalan is also increasing in department stores, which goes from 10% to 15%in shops, from 37% to 41%, and in banks, insurance and management companies, from 78% to 81%.
On the other hand, restaurants recorded a decrease of four points, from 22% to 18%the same as public transport, which goes from 33% to 29%. In bars, pubs and nightclubs the percentage drops from 15% to 12.5%, while in hairdressers and barbershops it falls back one point, to 33%.
In terms of linguistic identification, almost the 47% of the population consider Catalan their own language, eight points above the percentage of people who have it as their initial language, which is in the 39%. On the other hand, Spanish is the mother tongue of 47% of the residents
Family transmission continues to be one of the areas in which Catalan maintains a greater presence. The 56.7% of families use this language to address their children. Spanish, on the other hand, has increased by almost two points.
To the question about addressing in Catalan when a person answers in Spanish, only one 20.9% it does one 80.6% continue in Spanish. During the presentation of the survey, Bonell he pointed out that the results must be interpreted taking into account the demographic changes of recent years, marked by a mostly newly arrived Latin American population.
In this sense, the minister has recognized that the data show that it is still necessary to advance knowledge and the social use of Catalan. However, he remarked that the new Catalan law which was approved in April 2024 is bearing fruit, along with other measures such as National Plan for the Language and the reinforcement of free language learning courses in Catalan centers.
