A population concentrated on the coast and in large cities
With 299 inhabitants/km² in the Spanish Basque Country, 61 inhabitants/km² in Navarre and 62 inhabitants/km² in La Rioja, Spain's northern coast shows significant demographic disparities. The Spanish part of the Basque Country is home to 84% of the Basque population. For a long time, Guipúzcoa was the most densely populated province. The trend changed at the beginning of the 19th century, when industrialization in Vizcaya led to the arrival of workers from southern Spain, resulting in a demographic explosion. Today, Vizcaya is the most densely populated province in the Basque Country - more than half the total population lives here. Bilbao, with a population of 350,000, is the most populous city, followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz (250,000) and San Sebastian (190,000).
The concentration of populations on the coast and in the major cities explains the low population density in Navarre and Rioja. Pamplona (200,000 inhabitants), which brings together just under half of Navarre's population (640,000) in its metropolitan area, has a clear hegemony. As a result, the Pyrenean valleys are becoming increasingly depopulated, with young people abandoning them for the capital. In Rioja, Logroño (150,000 inhabitants) also accounts for half of the total population (323,000).
A region marked by migration
In 2023, immigrants represented 9.1% of the population in the Basque Country and Navarre, and 17.5% in La Rioja, compared with an average of 11.5% for Spain as a whole. They mainly come from Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia, etc.), Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, etc.) and the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, etc.). Since Italy closed its borders in 2018, the Basque Country, particularly at the border with France, has seen many migrants arrive. Pushed back from all sides, they are washing up in and around Irún, hoping to cross into France and then on to Germany. Local authorities, and above all citizens' groups, organized themselves to welcome them and accompany them on their long journey.
The Basques have a sense of welcome, especially as they understand the journey of these migrants, being themselves scattered all over the world. The Basque diaspora, or "eighth province" as it's known, is particularly prevalent in Argentina, Colombia, Chile and the United States. Some 4.5 million people of Basque origin live abroad, and 15 million bear a Basque name. The diaspora took place in two main phases. At the time of the Spanish conquest (1492), Basques emigrated to Latin America in search of a better life - by law, only the eldest could inherit from their parents. The second wave of immigration took place in the middle of the 19th century, mainly to North America, at the time of the gold rush.
A language with a mysterious origin
There are many hypotheses as to the origin of the Basque language, but none has been established with certainty. Basque is one of the few non-Indo-European languages in Europe, along with Finno-Ugric (Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian), Turkish and Semitic (Maltese). Among the hypotheses on the origin of the language, some linguists link Basque to the language of the Iberians, the primitive people of the Iberian Peninsula, while others defend the substratum theory, according to which Basque was spoken throughout Western Europe before the arrival of Indo-European peoples. The only certainty is that the origin of Basque predates that of the Indo-European languages, from which Latin, Celtic, Romance, Slavic and Greek derive.
The first written traces of Basque date back to the 11th century, with the discovery of the texts of the Glosas Emilianenses in the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla, located in the Rioja region. However, it was not standardized by the Basque Language Academy until 1968. Prior to this date, Euskara comprised several dialects specific to the historic provinces of the Basque Country: Navarro-Labourdin (spoken in Labourd and Basse-Navarre); Guipúzcoan; Navarrese; Souletin (spoken in Soule) and Biscayan. From 1968 onwards, we speak of Euskara Batua, the unified language taught in schools and used in administration and the press.
A co-official language
The Basque language is used in the different historical regions of the Basque Country, but there are significant disparities in its use. In the Spanish Basque Country and in certain areas of Navarre, Basque has the status of a co-official language with Castilian, the official language of Spain. In Navarre, foral law divides the territory into three linguistic zones: Basque-speaking, mixed and non-Basque-speaking. The Basque-speaking zone is concentrated mainly in the north of the region. On the French side, on the other hand, the lack of official status weakens the language, although in 2018, the agglomeration community of the Northern Basque Country took a step forward by officially recognizing Basque and Gascon-Occitan as languages of its territory.
The official recognition of the Basque language is a real victory for the region, achieved after decades of struggle and commitment. In 1980, the Ministry of Education regularized all ikastolas (association schools where teaching is entirely in Basque) throughout the Basque territory. In Navarre, the education system is the same, although it is only applied in the Basque-speaking area. In France, where Euskara is not recognized as an official language, Basque is taught in three types of schools: public, private(ikastola) and denominational. In the public sector, hourly bilingual teaching is only really effective at primary level. In secondary schools and high schools, only history and geography are taught in Basque.
