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EITB DATA
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The number of Euskaldunes has doubled in 40 years, but the use of the Basque language is not progressing at that rate

The EiTB Data report published on the occasion of Euskera Day shows that 45% of the inhabitants of the ACV are Euskaldunes and that the language has grown considerably in Álava and Bizkaia, although the daily use of the Basque language is not yet predominant, especially in the capitals and large urban centres.

Map of Basque knowledge in the Basque Country and Navarre from 1986 to 2021

EiTB Data has published an X-ray of the evolution of the Basque language , and one of the main conclusions is that the change has been consolidated: The number of Basque speakers has doubled since the late 1980s in the Basque Country, and thenumber of Euskaldunes  has risen from 45% to .

In Bizkaia, the growth has been remarkable, while in Gipuzkoa it has been more moderate because the initial percentages were very high, with some exceptions such as Getaria, where the proportion of Basques has decreased by 10 points in recent decades.

In Navarre, the picture is more unbalanced. In the north of the territory, 80% of the inhabitants are Basques, and the percentages are around in many places (such as the Baztan Valley), while in the south there are still very few Basques, in Tudela, for example, they are 1%. There are also intermediate quotas, such as Alsasua, where the number of Basques has tripled (from 12% to 37%).

However, the main challenge is thesocial use of the Basque language. According to the study, the usual use is concentrated mainly in Gipuzkoa, in the east of Bizkaia and on the coast. In the three capitals the percentages do not exceed 15%. The data of Vitoria-Gasteiz have been the most initiated since 2016, and in Bilbao there has also been a significant increase from 2016.

Map of the use of the Basque language by municipality

The report also mentions a structural phenomenon : the presence of the population from other Autonomous Communities is highly correlated with the lower use of the Basque language. The same is not true of the foreign population, whose level of knowledge of the language is low, but whose statistical weight is not related to the decline in use in municipalities, which emphasizes the cultural impact of migration in the 1960s and 1970s.

Number of Basques: correlation between foreigners and other autonomous communities

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