20 interesting facts & stats about Barcelona

With its amazing climate, stunning mountain scenery, great beaches, incredible cuisine and vibrant spirit, there’s no wonder so many people want to move to Barcelona.

If you’re thinking of making the move, there’s no better time to live and work in Barcelona! Need convincing? Here are 20 Barcelona stats and facts to get you in the mood for life in this mesmerising city. 

• Barcelona has an average of 300 days of sunshine a year.
• Barcelona’s population is 1.65 million (with an urban area of nearly 6 million).
• Surprisingly, that’s less than it was in 1980, when the population reached almost 2 million.
• Barcelona has two official languages – Catalan and Castellano (Castilian Spanish).
• There are 384,000 expats living in Barcelona, which account for 23.6% of Barcelona’s population.
• Barcelona’s foreign population speak more than 300 different languages.
• English is one of them, and more and more young people in Barcelona are learning the language with the help of TEFL teachers. An estimated 78% of young people aged 15 to 19 in Barcelona speak English. This drops slightly to 73% for 20 to 24 year olds. 
• There are over 10,000 Brits living in Barcelona, a number that increased sharply shortly after Brexit, and an estimated 8,000 US nationals in Barcelona.   
• The most populous foreign nationality in Barcelona is Italian, with around 42,000 Italians living and working in Barcelona.
• The employment rate in the city is 77.9%, which is higher than the average in Spain and Europe (51% and 75% respectively).
• Barcelona has one of Europe’s strongest startup ecosystems, with over 2,100 startups in the city.
• Over 25,000 foreign students come to study in Barcelona every year.
• The city’s main export is cars, with a total value of exports worth €11.9 billion in 2023. The largest food-based export is jamón, with exports valued at €116 million. 
• There are 28 Michelin-starred restaurants in Barcelona, including four 3-star venues - and one of those restaurants, Disfrutar, was voted as the best in the world in 2024.
• Barcelona’s cocktail bars are frequently voted as the best in the world, with Sips and Paradiso both winning the Best Bar in the World accolade in recent years.
• The city of Barcelona has 4.2 km of golden sandy beaches, and the wider Barcelona region is home to 28 Blue Flag beaches 
• Barcelona’s metro network spans 125.4 km and caters for over 1.5 million journeys per year.
• There is plenty of green space around the outskirts of the city, including Collserola, which spans over 8,000 hectares and is considered to be the largest metropolitan park in Spain and one of the largest in Europe. 
• The city’s famous basilica, La Sagrada Família, is due to be completed in 2026 – 144 years after construction began.
• La Sagrada Família is one of nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Barcelona, seven of which are buildings designed by the city’s famous architect Antoni Gaudí.

Sources: Gencat, Ajuntament de Barcelona, BCN Languages, Statista, The National, OEC World, UAB Barcelona, Catalonia.com.

Contact TEFL Iberia today to find out more about teaching English in Barcelona!