Where Catalan Is Most Spoken: Comarques of Catalonia
Whether people around you speak Catalan every day is one of the first questions any move to Catalonia raises. This is the share of residents who report being able to speak Catalan in each comarca, from the 2011 census — the last time the question was asked municipality by municipality. Neither end is better: some people want a thoroughly Catalan-speaking town, others prefer a comarca where Spanish alone will do from day one.
Interactive map
| # | Comarca | Province | Can speak Catalan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona | 91.6% | |
| 2 | Tarragona | 89.7% | |
| 3 | Tarragona | 88.7% | |
| 4 | Barcelona | 88.7% | |
| 5 | Barcelona | 88.0% | |
| 6 | Lleida | 87.7% | |
| 7 | Girona | 87.2% | |
| 8 | Lleida | 86.9% | |
| 9 | Girona | 86.7% | |
| 10 | Tarragona | 86.2% | |
| 11 | Lleida | 85.3% | |
| 12 | Lleida | 85.2% | |
| 13 | Barcelona | 84.4% | |
| 14 | Lleida | 84.3% | |
| 15 | Girona | 84.1% | |
| 16 | Tarragona | 84.0% | |
| 17 | Tarragona | 83.5% | |
| 18 | Lleida | 83.1% | |
| 19 | Lleida | 82.9% | |
| 20 | Lleida | 82.0% | |
| 21 | Barcelona | 81.7% | |
| 22 | Barcelona | 81.6% | |
| 23 | Tarragona | 80.9% | |
| 24 | Lleida | 80.6% | |
| 25 | Girona | 80.0% | |
| 26 | Mixed | 79.3% | |
| 27 | Tarragona | 78.8% | |
| 28 | Barcelona | 78.3% | |
| 29 | Barcelona | 77.7% | |
| 30 | Lleida | 77.4% | |
| 31 | Girona | 75.5% | |
| 32 | Barcelona | 75.3% | |
| 33 | Tarragona | 74.8% | |
| 34 | Lleida | 74.1% | |
| 35 | Girona | 73.8% | |
| 36 | Barcelona | 73.7% | |
| 37 | Barcelona | 72.9% | |
| 38 | Girona | 71.8% | |
| 39 | Tarragona | 70.0% | |
| 40 | Tarragona | 70.0% | |
| 41 | Barcelona | 68.0% | |
| 42 | Barcelona | 68.0% | |
| 43 | Lleida | 63.6% |
2011 Population and Housing Census (Idescat, based on INE) — the last census edition carrying the language question at municipal level. Real measured data, but predating 2012.
Methodology
Share of residents aged 2 and over who report being able to speak Catalan, from the 2011 Population and Housing Census (Idescat, based on INE figures). It measures the ability to speak the language, not everyday use: Idescat's language-use survey, which does measure use, is published only for Catalonia, the eight territorial areas, Barcelona city and Aran, so no comarca-level usage figure exists at all. 2011 is the last census edition to carry the question at municipal level, so the data is real but more than a decade old; the relative ordering of comarques is structural and very stable. For 36 comarques this is Idescat's own published comarca figure; for the seven it has not republished since the 2025 comarcal boundary change (Bages, Lluçanès, Vallès Oriental, Osona, Moianès, Solsonès and Segarra) the municipal counts are summed instead — a method that reproduces the published figure to within 0.001 points on 33 of the 36 comarques where it can be checked. The map uses a neutral single-hue scale (light = fewer, dark = more): neither end is better. Special case: in Aran, Aranese (Occitan) is the local and co-official language, and this figure measures knowledge of Catalan only.