Languages of Catalonia
According to the government of Catalonia, Spanish, locally known as Castilian, is currently the most spoken language in Catalonia (45.9% daily users of Spanish vs. 35.6% daily users of Catalan vs. 11% daily users of both Spanish and Catalan) and especially in the Barcelona metropolitan area, as well as native language and usual language of many Catalan citizens. This language is widely prevalent in the press, cinema and in daily life.
National and regional identity in Spain
As of 2011, 95% of the population were able to understand Catalan, and 73% could speak it. In 2007, 32% named Catalan as the primary language that they actually did speak, against 50% for Spanish (Castilian); 7% spoke the two languages equally. The ethnolinguistic composition of the population has been heavily affected by extensive immigration from non-Catalan speaking parts of Spain, much of it associated with rapid growth in industry, since the late 19th century and more particularly between 1950 and 1975.