Immigration improves Catalonia in three respects - economically, culturally and as a place to live. That is the view of a majority of Catalans, according to the new survey by Catalonia's public polling agency the Centre for Opinion Studies (CEO), presented this Wednesday. This study, entitled Survey on Values in Catalonia 2023 (see full document in Catalan) examined Catalans' views on areas ranging from morality to gender, and also included a revealing section on attitudes to immigration. On average, a positive assessment (more than 5 on a 0 to 10 scale) towards immigration is observed in the three aspects which respondents were asked about. The perception that immigration is good for the Catalan economy is the point which obtains the highest score (6.6). The perception that, with immigration, the cultural life of Catalonia is enriched is the second most popular (with a rating of 6.0) and, in a less-convincing third place, the idea that immigration makes Catalonia a better place to live (with an average rating of 5.6). This survey was carried out using the self-administered survey methodology (push-to-web+paper) to a sample of people aged 16 and over resident in Catalonia. The CEO selected a random sample of 18,378 people from the population register of Catalonia, who received one or more letters at their registered street address. The final sample obtained for this study was 7,685 people, 6,131 of whom answered online (79.8%) and the remaining 1,554, on paper (20.2%).
Sex and age effects
There are no major differences between sexes on the immigration questions included in the survey. On the other hand, different age groups do tend to have differences in their views on the three aspects asked about. The youngest (under 24) and oldest (over 64) tend to think that immigration is not as good for the economy as other age groups. The same goes for the question of whether Catalan cultural life is enriched. Regarding the results by education level, respondents with higher education tend to have a slightly more positive view of immigration. However, the differences with respect to groups with lower education are relatively modest.
🟡 Two-thirds of all Catalans either immigrated to Catalonia or have at least one parent who did
Differences according to political party support
Supporters of all parties, except Junts, the PP, Vox and Ciudadanos (Cs in the graph below), give positive ratings (over 5) to all aspects of immigration included in the survey. A general perception prevails that immigration is good for the Catalan economy; secondly, that it enriches cultural life; and with a more lukewarm, response, that it makes Catalonia a better place to live, albeit with widespread approval. Dividing the respondents by political party preference, those who sympathize with the Comuns (ECP-Sumar in the graph), the CUP and the PSC have a more favourable view of immigrants than the average in all three premises analysed. The views of ERC and Cs supporters are close to the survey average, while Junts, the PP and Vox are below in all three categories. Supporters of the groups of Carles Puigdemont and Ignacio Garriga both believe that Catalan cultural life tends to be impoverished by immigrants (4.6) and that Catalonia is a worse place to live (4.6 and 3.3 , respectively), which is what PP voters also say (4.8). Vox supporters are the only ones who say that immigrants are bad for the economy (4.8).
Perception of effects of immigration on Catalonia, in general population (left hand group) and political party preference. Agreement from 0 (completely disagree) to 10 (completely agree) with statements:
Yellow = "immigration is good for the Catalan economy"; Green = "the cultural life of Catalonia is enriched by immigration"; Red = "immigration makes Catalonia a better place to live".