Basque

According to the 7th Sociolinguistic Survey (2021), carried out jointly by the Basque Government, the Government of Navarre and the Office public de la langue basque, 30.2% of inhabitants aged 16 and over across the Basque-speaking territory are Basque speakers, i.e. 809,341 people, and 16.1% are passive bilinguals¹.

Northern Basque Country (France): 20.1% Basque speakers (51,484 people) and 9.4% passive bilinguals; the figure was 26.4% in 1996¹. It reaches 47.5% in Lower Navarre and Soule, against 16.1% in Labourd¹.

Spain: 36.2% Basque speakers in the Basque Autonomous Community (681,072 people, up from 24.1% in 1991) and 14.1% in Navarre (76,784 people, up from 9.5% in 1991)¹. Among 16–24 year-olds the share is 74.5% in the Autonomous Community, 28% in Navarre and 21.5% in the Northern Basque Country¹.

Use: in 2021, 17.5% of inhabitants aged 16 and over used Basque as much as or more than French or Spanish (22% in the Autonomous Community, 6.8% in Navarre, 7.1% in the Northern Basque Country)².

France: the Constitution states that "the language of the Republic is French" (Art. 2) and that "regional languages belong to the heritage of France" (Art. 75-1)⁸. France signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on 7 May 1999, but the Constitutional Council ruled that it contained clauses contrary to the Constitution¹¹. Law no. 2021-641 of 21 May 2021 includes regional languages in the linguistic heritage protected by the Heritage Code⁹; the Constitutional Council struck down two of its articles, on immersion teaching and on diacritical signs in civil registers¹⁰.

Spain: in the Basque Autonomous Community, Law 10/1982 makes Basque "the language proper to the Basque Country" and grants everyone the right to use Basque as well as Castilian⁵. Law 5/2026 of 25 June 2026 regulates language-profile requirements in the Basque public service⁷. In Navarre, Foral Law 18/1986 (titled "del Euskera" since 2017) divides the territory into three zones; Basque is co-official with Castilian only in the Basque-speaking zone^4,6. Foral Law 9/2017 moved 44 municipalities from the non-Basque-speaking zone to the mixed zone, and the municipality of Atetz from the mixed to the Basque-speaking zone⁴. Spain has ratified the European Charter; the instrument of ratification was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 15 September 2001¹².

France: the 2021 law allows public services to display translations into the regional language on public buildings, roads, transport infrastructure and their main communication materials⁹. However, the Constitutional Council held that a provision granting individuals a right to use a language other than French in their dealings with the administration was contrary to Article 2 of the Constitution¹⁰.

Spain: in the Basque Autonomous Community, everyone has the right to address the administration in Basque or Castilian and to be served in the official language of their choice⁵. In Navarre, Foral Decree 103/2017 regulates the use of Basque by zone: either language may be used in the Basque-speaking zone, and citizens may address the administration in Basque in the mixed and non-Basque-speaking zones⁴. Several of its articles, notably on counting Basque as a merit in public employment and on bilingual signage, were annulled by the High Court of Justice of Navarre in 2019⁴.

Northern Basque Country: at the start of the 2023 school year, out of 51,763 pupils, 6,641 primary pupils were in bilingual education and 3,969 in immersion; at lower-secondary level, 2,341 pupils were in bilingual and 1,078 in immersion streams; at upper-secondary level, 625 and 474³. In 2023–2024, 47 public or Catholic private schools offered immersion teaching at nursery level, and the Seaska network opened its fifth secondary school, in Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle³. The 2021 law provides that, under agreements between the State and the regions, the regional language is taught within normal school hours⁹.

Spain: in 2023–2024, 71% of non-university pupils in the Basque Autonomous Community were enrolled in model D (Basque-medium) and 16.4% in model B; in Navarre, 23.5% were in model D². In 2022–2023, 54.3% of undergraduates at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) took at least one subject in Basque².

Adults: 41,080 people were enrolled in Basque courses in 2023–2024 (34,208 in the Autonomous Community, 4,842 in Navarre, 2,030 in the Northern Basque Country)².

Northern Basque Country: five Basque-language media are grouped in the association Euskal Hedabideak; the TV channel Kanaldude has been carried by Bouygues, Free and SFR since 2023; the OPLB supports the network of Basque-language radio stations (Euskal Irratiak); 11,293 Fransat cards had been activated to receive the Basque public broadcaster ETB³. A university diploma in Basque-language journalism was launched in 2023³.

Navarre: the Basque public channels ETB1 and ETB3 are received, seven radio stations broadcast entirely in Basque and three local digital TV channels broadcast entirely in Basque; Euskarabidea spent €920,912 on media grants in 2021⁴.

Audience: in 2023, 19.5% of inhabitants of the Basque Autonomous Community and 9.2% of Navarrese consumed at least one traditional Basque-language medium every day².

In 2021, 44.7% of stage performances offered in the Basque Autonomous Community were produced in Basque and 32.1% in Basque and Castilian². In 2024, the Basque Wikipedia ranked 17th worldwide by number of complete core articles². In 2023–2024, 3,640 lower-secondary pupils in the Northern Basque Country watched a film in Basque through the "Collège au cinéma" scheme³.

Attitudes: in 2021, 56.5% of inhabitants of the Basque-speaking territory were in favour of promoting the language (67% in the Autonomous Community, 30% in Navarre, 36.3% in the Northern Basque Country)².