93.8% of the citizens of Catalonia understand Catalan, the official language along with Spanish. To these nearly seven million people that understand Catalan, we can add those from other territories where it is used as the everyday language, particularly the Valencian Community (where it is called 'Valencià'), the Balearic Islands and part of Aragon, the Franja de Ponent (Western Strip). It is the only official language in Andorra and its use extends to the south of France and the city of Alghero, Sardinia. As a result, it is calculated that there are a total of nine million people that speak Catalan and 11 million that understand it. It is therefore situated ahead of 14 official languages of the European Union and it is the ninth most spoken language.

Catalan is the common language used at school and its use is standardising the media, financial world and cultural productions. A survey carried out by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (IDESCAT) in 2007 indicated that three out of four residents in Catalonia can speak and write Catalan. With regard to Spanish, nearly all citizens understand (98.9%) and speak it (96.4%).

Catalan was established between the 8th and 10th Centuries as an evolution of Latin, as were Spanish, French, Italian and the other Romance languages. Every year, 10,000 titles are edited in Catalan, which is the tenth most translated language in the world and taught in 166 universities.