The percentage of young people who speak Basque has increased but young Basque speakers from Bizkaia and Álava usually speak Spanish rather than Basque with their friends

On the occasion of Euskaraldia (23 November- 3 December), the Basque Youth Observatory is publishing data on the evolution of the knowledge and use of the Basque language by young people aged 15 to 29 in the Basque Country.

The knowledge of Basque has increased among the youth of the Basque Country in the past few years and the majority of young people aged 15 to 29 in the three Basque provinces speak Basque quite well or correctly.

However, the differences between provinces persist and the percentage of young people from Gipuzkoa who are fluent in Basque significantly exceeds the figures for Bizkaia, and even more so in the case of the province of Álava.

Evolution of the knowledge of Basque among young people aged 15 to 29 by province (%)

Source: EUSTAT (Survey of Living Conditions) and the Basque Youth Observatory (Basque Youth 2016)

However, fluency in Basque does not necessarily imply that they speak it outside formal environments connected to education or work.

The number of young Basque speakers aged 15 to 29 who speak Basque with friends is continuing to fall: between 2004 and 2016 there was an accumulated fall of more than 10 percentage points. The percentage of young Basque speakers who mainly used Basque or Basque and Spanish equally when interacting with friends fell from 48.5% to 38.1%.

The decline in the use of Basque when speaking to friends is a common feature of the three Basque provinces. However, it has been particularly pronounced in Bizkaia, where the percentage of Basque speakers who mainly speak Basque or Basque as much as Spanish with their friends fell from 43.9% in 2004 to 27.1% in 2016.

Evolution of the use of Basque when speaking to friends among young Basque speakers aged 15 to 29 by province (%)

Source: Basque Youth Observatory (Basque Youth Series)

If, rather than focusing on young Basque speakers, we analyse the percentage of all Basque youth regarding the use of Basque when speaking to friends, we find that the figures have remained practically unchanged and that since 2004, one fourth of all young people use Basque as their language of preference or equally shared with Spanish when speaking to their friends (26.9% in 2004; 25.8% in 2008; 26.1% in 2012, and 26.4% in 2016).

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