According to the 2021 sociolinguistic survey, 30.2% of the population is Basque-speaking (people over 16 years old). This percentage is significantly higher in proportional terms in the most Basque-speaking communities of the Basque Country: Orexa (93.6%), Errezil (93.0%), Ajanguiz (92.6%), Abaltzisketa (92.3%), Zerain (92.2%), Arantza (91.8%) and Araitz (91.4%). The opposite extremes display very different proportions: Corella, Milagro, Ribaforada, Valtierra, Azagra, Cabanillas and Monteagudo, all with less than 0.5%. Thus, the map shows that the most Basque-speaking areas are found in small and medium-sized localities in the provinces of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, while the most Spanish-speaking areas are found in southern Navarre, including in towns and cities.
On the other hand, if the focus is shifted to numbers of Basque speakers rather than proportions, the map changes. The most Basque speakers are to be found in urban areas: Bilbao (98,805 Basque speakers), Donostia (80,808), Vitoria-Gasteiz (68,537), Barakaldo (24,785), Getxo (24,313), Irun (23,352), Pamplona (22,243) and
Errenteria (16,410).
But it has not always been like this. These urban centres are the municipalities with the largest numbers of Basque speakers today, because in recent years many people have learnt the language (mainly as children, at schools or in euskaltegi Basque centres) and the cities have absorbed Basque speakers from country areas. Observing developments in the last twenty years, the places mentioned above stand out as the ones that have gained the most Basque speakers: Bilbao (47,503 more Basque speakers in 2021 than in 2001), Vitoria-Gasteiz (38,236), Donostia (22,123), Barakaldo (16,020), Getxo (8,802) and Pamplona (6,748).
In terms of the variations in numbers and proportions of Basque speakers, four categories can be identified:
• Those that have gained both in numbers and in proportional terms: a total of 341 municipalities. The main three are those mentioned above, Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Donostia.
• More Basque speakers but a lower proportion. 150 municipalities. The number of Basque speakers has risen. However, the population has grown and other profiles have also increased in number. the most notable examples are Baiona, Beasain, Orio,
Oiartzun, Gernika-Lumo, Azkoitia and Azpeitia.
• Those with less Basque-speaking inhabitants, but where the proportion of Basque speakers has risen, applying to three municipalities. This has happened due to loss of population, as in Forua, Iurreta and Eibar.
• Those where both the number and proportion of Basque speakers have fallen. In figures, the main municipalities in this group are Maule-Lextarre, Bermeo, Arrasate, Biarritz and Ondarroa.
Therefore, both the number and proportion of Basque speakers have risen in almost all of the periphery of the part of the Basque Country within Spain. In the central areas of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa and in Lapurdi, there are more Basque speakers but they have declined in proportional terms, while in Basse Navarre and Zuberoa there have been losses at both levels.