III.

The People of Barcelona

According to the municipal census of 2001, Barcelona has 1,605,602 inhabitants. The province of Barcelona, which includes the city and its surrounding area, has a total population of 5,226,354, making it the second largest in Spain, after Madrid. The metropolitan area steadily grew from the 1950s through the 1980s; however, during the 1990s, the number of inhabitants dropped slightly. The city itself experienced this turnaround earlier. After decades of expansion, it began to lose residents in the early 1980s, due to a decline in both immigration and local birth rates. It is expected that further migrations from the center to the suburbs will continue.

The major ethnic division in Barcelona is that between native Catalans and immigrants from the rest of Spain. Catalans make up about two-thirds of the city’s population. Cultural difference between these groups is reflected above all in language use. Barcelona is a bilingual city. Most of its residents speak Catalan, the local language of Romance origin, as well as Castilian Spanish, which is spoken throughout the rest of the country. Catalan is habitually used at all social levels, and it is the preferred language of middle class residents. Castilian Spanish is the language of choice for most of the large urban working class, many of whom are recent migrants from elsewhere in Spain, especially the southern region of Andalucía.

Barcelona is also home to a growing number of foreign immigrants. These range from North Africans, most of whom are part of the working class, to European executives and professionals. This mix contributes to Barcelona's long-standing reputation as a cosmopolitan city.

As in the rest of Spain, the vast majority of Barcelona's people are Roman Catholics. There is also a small Jewish community. In the late 20th century Protestant denominations began to grow in membership, and the local Islamic population is also expanding, due to sustained emigration from North Africa.