Catalan self-government: from autonomy to self-determination?

Catalonia is situated on the eastern Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It covers a land area of 32,106 km2 (making it slightly bigger than Belgium) and has a population of 7,716,760 (slightly less than Switzerland). Catalonia is currently an Autonomous Community (AC) of Spain that covers 6.3% of the state’s territory and is home to 16.2% of the total population. Catalan political reality is organized through its own party-system and the democratic will of preserving its own self-ruling institutions, which are known as Generalitat de Catalunya. The 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (SAC) states in its Preamble: “In reflection of the feelings and the wishes of the citizens of Catalonia, the Parliament of Catalonia has defined Catalonia as a nation by an ample majority. The Spanish Constitution, in its second Article, recognises the national reality of Catalonia as a nationality.” Economically Catalonia contributes 19% of the total Spanish GDP, in 2020 the Catalan GDP amounted to 224.125 billion EUR. It is an economically strong region since the GDP per capita is 17.8% (National Statistics Institute 2020a) higher than the Spanish average. The main economic sectors are services (73.9%), of which 24.8% (18.4% of the total) in the public sector, industry (19.9%) and real estate activities (5.11%). The unemployment rate in 2021 was 10.92% pointing to a very moderate recovery from the COVID crisis that had left unemployment at around 11.9% in 2020.

Access work

https://www.world-autonomies.info/territorial-autonomies/catalonia