Catalans
Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: catalans; Spanish: catalanes, Italian: catalani, Sardinian: cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, an autonomous community in Spain and the inhabitants of the Roussillon historical region in southern France, today the Pyrénées Orientales department, also called Northern Catalonia and Pays Catalan in French.
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 9 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Spain (people born in Catalonia of any ethnicity; excludes ethnic Catalans in other regions in Spain) | 8,005,784 (2023) |
| France (people born in Pyrénées-Orientales) | 491,000 (2023) |
| Argentina (estimates vary) | 188,000 |
| Mexico | 63,000 |
| Germany | 48,000 |
| Peru | 39,000 |
| Andorra | 29,000 |
| Italy (Algherese dialect speakers in Alghero, Sardinia) | 20,000 |
| Chile | 16,000 |
| Brazil | 11,787 |
| Venezuela | 6,200 |
| Colombia | 6,100 |
| Cuba | 3,600 |
| Ecuador | 3,500 |
| United States (estimates vary) | 700-1,750 |
| Canada | 1,283 |
| Finland | 103 |
| Languages | |
| Catalan, Catalan Sign Occitan (In Aran Valley) Spanish, French, Italian (as a result of immigration or language shift) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Occitans, Spaniards (Aragonese, Castilians), Valencians, Northern Italians | |
Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people from areas in which Catalan is spoken, namely those from Andorra, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, eastern Aragon, Roussillon, and the city of Alghero in Sardinia.
The Catalan government regularly surveys its population regarding its "sentiment of belonging". As of July 2019, the results point out that 46.7% of the Catalans and other people living in Catalonia would like independence from Spain, 1.3% less than the year before.