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Population aged 2 and over. By knowldedge of Catalan, place of birth and sex

Population aged 2 and over. By knowldedge of Catalan, place of birth and sex Catalonia. 2021
Can understand Can talk Can read Can write
Well With difficulty Total Well With difficulty Total Well With difficulty Total Well With difficulty Total Don't understand Total
Spain 5,723.1 276.7 5,999.9 5,155.5 574.9 5,730.4 5,224.8 479.6 5,704.4 4,423.5 902.4 5,325.9 106.1 6,105.9
Men 2,834.8 128.8 2,963.6 2,551.0 297.7 2,848.7 2,598.1 232.2 2,830.4 2,190.0 460.7 2,650.7 52.0 3,015.7
Women 2,888.3 147.9 3,036.2 2,604.5 277.2 2,881.7 2,626.7 247.3 2,874.0 2,233.5 441.7 2,675.2 54.0 3,090.3
Foreigner 755.5 408.0 1,163.4 446.0 511.5 957.5 626.3 431.3 1,057.5 392.3 421.0 813.3 197.4 1,360.8
Men 346.9 206.7 553.5 203.6 248.9 452.6 289.1 214.3 503.3 173.6 212.2 385.8 86.0 639.6
Women 408.6 201.3 609.9 242.3 262.6 504.9 337.2 217.0 554.2 218.7 208.8 427.5 111.4 721.2
Total 6,478.6 684.7 7,163.3 5,601.5 1,086.4 6,687.9 5,851.1 910.8 6,761.9 4,815.8 1,323.4 6,139.2 303.4 7,466.7
Men 3,181.7 335.5 3,517.2 2,754.7 546.6 3,301.3 2,887.2 446.5 3,333.7 2,363.6 672.9 3,036.5 138.0 3,655.2
Women 3,296.9 349.2 3,646.1 2,846.8 539.8 3,386.6 2,963.9 464.3 3,428.2 2,452.2 650.5 3,102.7 165.4 3,811.5
Units: Thousands of people.
Source: Idescat, based on the INE's Survey on Main Characteristics of the Population and Housing.

Last update: July 6, 2023.

Methodological note

Definition of concepts

Knowledge of Catalan
The data in these statistics correspond to the population of two years or more by knowledge of catalan. It is considered: A person «understands» Catalan if they are able to understand a conversation in Catalan on an everyday subject. A person «can read» Catalan if they are able to read everyday texts, such as announcements, newspapers, etc. A person «can speak» Catalan if they are able to maintain a conversation in Catalan on an everyday subject. A person «can write» Catalan if they are able to write notes, postcards, etc. sufficiently correctly, even if not totally correctly.

Methodological aspects

The Statistics on Main Characteristics of the Population and Housing is a sample survey that complements the results of the Population and Housing Census. The main objective of the survey is to obtain information on variables for which there is no information from administrative registers and thus give continuity to the existing census series.

In the Statistics on Main Characteristics of the Population and Housing 2021, the question on knowledge of Catalan has changed with respect to that of the Population Census. Thus, instead of the answer options 'yes' and 'no' in the Statistics there are three options: 'well', 'with difficulty' and 'not at all'.

Idescat publishes information on the knowledge and uses of the 7 most popular languages in Catalonia: Catalan, Spanish, English, French, Arabic, Italian and German.

You can get more information about these statistics in the methodology.