U.S. English Foundation Research

SPAIN

General Information

Capital:

Madrid 3,029,734 (1995 est.)

Area:

504,782 sq km (194,897 sq mi) including the African and insular territories

Form of government

Constitutional monarchy

GDP per capita

Purchasing power parity-$17,300 (1999 est.)

Population

39,167,744 (July 1999 est.)

Ethnic composition

Spanish - 74.4%

Catalan - 16.9%

Galician - 6.4%

Basque - 1.6%

Other - 0.7%

Updated (August 2003)

In 2001, about 97.5 percent of the people living in Spain were Spanish citizens, while 2.5 percent of the population did not have Spanish citizenship, belonging to immigrant minorities. The share of immigrants in Spain is one of the lowest in Europe.

About 72.3 percent of Spanish citizens are of Castilian origin, 16.3 percent of Catalan origin, 8.1 percent of Galician origin, 2.3 percent of Basque origin and 1.0 percent of other origin (among them 500,000 Romas (Gitanos)).

Source: CIFEM, Villach-Ossiach, Minority Policies in Spain, Historical Development, Characteristics and Current Situation, by Franz Valandro, Villach, September 2001, http://www.cifem.at/projekte/Spanien.htm

Official Language(s)

Spanish (Castilian)

Minority Language(s)

ARAGONESE is spoken by about 30,000 people in a few Pyrenean valleys.

ASTURIAN is spoken throughout the Principality of Asturias, except for the area bordering Galicia where a natural mixture of the Galician and Asturian languages occurs. Asturian is also spoken in the north and west parts of the Province of Castile-León, but there is no official cooperation between the Asturian and Leonese regional governments as regards language promotion.

BASQUE (Euskara) is spoken in parts of the provinces of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Araba, which make up the Autonomous Basque Community. It is also spoken in the Autonomous Community of Navarre (Nafarroa) as well as in the northern part of the Basque Country in France (Labourd, Basse-Navarre and Soule), Lapurdi, Behe-Nafarroa and Zuberoa. According to the 1991 census, about 25% of the population of the Autonomous Basque Community (around 515,000 people), and about 11% of the population of Autonomous Community of Navarre (roughly 50,000 people) speak Basque.

CATALAN is spoken in four Autonomous Communities, viz. Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia and also in a part of Aragon. According to the 1996 census, 95% of the population of Catalonia understands Catalan, and about 79% can speak it. According to the 1986 census 90% of the population on the Balearic Islands understands Catalan and 72% speak it. While in Valencia 74% of the population understand Catalan and nearly 50% also speak it.

GALICIAN is spoken in the autonomous community of Galicia (provinces of Coruna, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra), as well as in the Asturias/Galicia and Castile-León /Galicia border regions. According to the 1991 census, 91% of the 2,753,000 inhabitants of the autonomous community of Galicia understand Galician, and 84% also speak it. However, the same census also indicates that only 48% use the language all the time. Of the 90,000 people living in the Asturias/Galicia and Castile-León /Galicia border regions, about 45% normally communicate in Galician.

OCCITAN is spoken in Val d'Aran, a Pyrenean valley on the French-Spanish border, which is an administrative part of Catalonia. Three variants of the language exist: northern Occitan, central or southern Occitan, and Gascon. The Occitan (Aranese) spoken in the Val d'Aran (Aran Valley) is a variant of Gascon (differing in certain aspects from the Gascon spoken to the north of the Pyrenees, these differences that are mostly attributable to the influence of Castilian and Catalan). According to 1996 census, 64.85% of the inhabitants (6,000) can speak Aranese and 90.05% can understand it.

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