Strength of sentiment of Catalan identity down over past ten years

The strength of feeling of Catalan identity has fallen in the last decade.

The sentiment has fallen in citizens of all ages, among speakers of both Catalan and Spanish, and among people who live in both small towns and larger cities.

According to the various surveys taken by the Center for Opinion Studies between 2014 and 2024, people who consider themselves 'only Catalan', as opposed to those who feel 'both Catalan and Spanish', have fallen from 29.1% to 18%.

Young people between the ages of 18 and 24 are the ones who have abandoned this feeling the most. Ten years ago they were slightly above the average with 29.3%, now the figure is 11.4%, the age range with the lowest percentage.

The feeling of only Catalan has also fallen particularly among Catalan speakers and also among left-wing voters.

Ever since the peak of the independence push in 2017, the independence camp has struggled to garner the same level of support as seen in the buildup to the referendum. 

The change in government in the Spanish executive has also played a significant role in the evolution, as the Socialists' lighter approach towards Catalonia has done a lot to quell the desire for independence.

During the last years, the Socialists have moved to pardon the independence leaders who had been jailed, have engaged in dialogue table talks with the Catalan government to discuss the independence question, and have most recently ratified an amnesty law for those who have sought independence for Catalonia. 

In contrast, the right-wing People's Party, who were in charge in Madrid at the time of the 2017 vote, took a more hardline stance against the independence push, and even moved to dissolve Catalonia's self-rule that same year. 

Trends

The trend of those who feel only Catalan is moving down in all age groups, but not in the same proportions.

In a survey in March 2014, more respondents aged 18-24 felt 'only Catalan' than any other category, followed by 'more Catalan than Spanish,' then 'both Catalan and Spanish.'

Over the past decade, the number of young people who identify as only Catalanity has plummeted, while those who have both identities with equal weight have shot up 20 percentage points.

Conversely, people aged 65 and over who say they only feel Catalan are at 21%, with a drop of only five percentage points in the last ten years.

In 2014, the elderly were the segment that least felt exclusively Catalan, while now they are the age group that holds this feeling the strongest.

The figures contrast with those who feel equally Catalan and Spanish, a group that has seen support grow significantly across all ages.

Those who feel more or only Spanish remain as residual as in 2014. Only 5.6% of respondents identify more with Spain than with Catalonia, and 6% of people feel only Spanish.