OVER half of Barcelona’s young residents are born abroad – and Catalan separatists are concerned that this is causing a loss of cultural identity.
In 2000, 5% of Barcelona’s population was immigrants, now 31% is – that’s practically a third of those residing in the city.
There is also a higher population of non-Spaniards than Spaniards in the 15 to 39 age category.
As a result of this high foreign population Catalan separatists are sounding alarms over the loss of cultural identity.
Debates surrounding the protection of Catalan have circulated social media as some of Barcelona’s establishments run by foreigners do not have staff that speak Catalan or menus in the language.
This juxtaposition between Barcelona’s global identity and its Catalan separatists will be the focus of discussions surrounding the upcoming 2027 municipal elections.
References to the ‘loss of Barcelona and Catalan identity’ due to ‘the substitution of the local and popular expressions for global formats often dictated by economic interest and politics which are foreign to the city’, have been made by political scientist Albert Cerillo, a spokesperson of the Junts in the district of Eixample.
With an objective of restoring the city’s identity, the ERC general secretary and leader in the town hall, Elisenda Alamany, is supporting local businesses and hopes to reduce souvenir shops and 24 hour supermarkets.
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This call for change follows the approval of an increase in tourist tax which, in the absence of validation of the decree-law in Parliament, will double the Barcelona surcharge on stays in tourist establishments to eight euros per person per night in 2029.
Currently, the city has over 1.7 million inhabitants which is its highest recorded population in the last four decades.
Of Barcelona’s 680,000 households, the number which include foreign nationals continues to rise, both those where all members are foreign (13.4%) and those where Spanish nationals live alongside people of other nationalities (14.2%) have increased, according to the 2025 census.
Ultimately, Barcelona is standing at a crossroad as it strives to preserve its Catalan identity while embracing the global diversity that has arisen due to its foreign residents.
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