Catalonia
The Catalonian economy has performed very similarly to the country as a whole in recent years. According to CaixaBank Research estimates, GDP grew by 5.6% in 2021, thanks to the upturn in household spending, domestic tourism (mainly urban) and exports.

- Catalonia is the region with the second highest GDP, after Madrid, accounting for 19% of Spain’s total GDP.
- With a population of almost 7.7 million inhabitants (16.2% of the Spanish population), it is also the second-largest region in demographic terms, after Andalusia.
- In 2020 (latest available figure), GDP per capita stood at 27,812 euros, the fourth highest in the country and 17.4% above the average.
- Catalonia has a highly diversified production sector, although it is most notable for the relative importance of its manufacturing industry (16.2% vs the Spanish average of 12.1%) and industry-related services (31.2% vs 29.8%) and services related to trade, transportation, hotels and restaurants, and leisure (24.7% vs 23.9%).
- The region is highly export-oriented, with goods exports accounting for 31.2% of regional GDP (national average of 23.5%), making it the region with the highest volume of exports: 80.538 billion euros in 2021, 25.4% of the total. The main export sectors are the motor vehicle industry (12.0% of the total), pharmaceutical products (8.2%) and plastics and their manufactured goods (8.2%): the region accounts for almost 60% of Spanish exports of toys, over 40% of its meat and chemical products and more than 30% of its textile products and industrial machinery. Moreover, it is the region with the highest revenues from international tourism, with 21.319 billion euros in 2019 (23.2% of the total).
Table of structural indicators
|
1990 |
2000 |
2010 |
2020 |
|||
GDP per capita |
Euros |
10,031 |
19,442 |
26,976 |
27,812 |
||
100 = Spain |
120.9 |
121.7 |
117.1 |
117.4 |
|||
Population |
Thousands of inhabitants |
6,062 |
6,315 |
7,493 |
7,671 |
||
Average annual growth over the decade (%) |
0.2 |
0.4 |
1.7 |
0.2 |
|||
% of total in Spain |
15.6 |
15.5 |
16.1 |
16.2 |
|||
% of population > 65 years old |
4.9 |
5.1 |
4.4 |
5.1 |
|||
Exports of goods as a proportion of GDP |
% |
… |
27.4 |
24.2 |
31.2 |
||
|
The Catalonian economy has performed very similarly to the country as a whole in recent years. According to CaixaBank Research estimates, GDP grew by 5.6% in 2021, thanks to the upturn in household spending, domestic tourism (mainly urban) and exports.
For 2022, our forecasts indicate that Catalonia’s GDP will grow by 4.7%, a figure that is slightly higher than the Spanish average, putting it at 2.2% below pre-COVID levels: these levels will not be recovered until 2024. Activity will be boosted by the upturn in consumption, the rise in international tourism and a diversified production sector, which is better prepared to make good use of European funds and successfully overcome a climate of uncertainty, an energy crisis and bottlenecks in the global markets.
GDP
The performance of the Catalonian labour market is similar to the Spanish average: Registered workers affiliated to Social Security increased by 2.4% in 2021 (vs 2.5%), while in November this year, growth accelerated to 2.9% year-on-year
(vs 2.7%) and stood at 4.5% above the level in November 2019 (+4.7% in Spain). In terms of the unemployment rate, it stood at 9.3% in Q3 2022, which is well below the average (12.7%) and is an improvement on pre-pandemic figures (10.5% in Q4 2019).
Consumption is performing better than it is nationwide. After growing by 3.2% in 2021 (vs 2.6%), the volume of retail and consumer goods in January-October 2022 fell by 0.7% year-on-year, chiefly due to the rise in prices. This compares to a somewhat more pronounced fall across Spain (–1.2%). In any event, they remain far below 2019 levels (–6.4% vs –4.6% on average in Spain).
Industrial production, which grew by 8.3% in 2021, above the Spanish average (7.1%), has been hit by bottlenecks in supply chains and rising energy prices in recent months. Consequently, performance has been more muted, with
a cumulative year-on-year growth of 1.2% up to October,
2 points less than in the country as a whole, putting it 2.1% below the level in 2019 (vs –0.9%).
Exports are performing in line with the Spanish average, although they are somewhat subdued, hit by the supply crisis. After growing by 21.1% in 2021, one point more than in Spain, in the first 10 months of 2022, they grew by 17.0% year-on-year (vs +23.6%) and are now 24.2% higher than in 2019 (vs +31.2%). In terms of tourism, at the end of 2021, overnight stays in the region had fallen by 46.7% compared to 2019, slightly above the Spanish average (–45.0%), while in January-October 2022, the difference stood at –5.1% (–5.0% in Spain).
Retail trade
Exports of goods
Table of indicators
|
2008-2013 average |
2014-2019 average |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Gap with 2019 (latest figure) |
Latest figure |
|
Activity and prices |
Real GDP * |
–1.8 |
2.9 |
–11.5 |
5.6 |
— |
–6.6 |
2021 |
–1.8 |
2.8 |
–11.3 |
5.5 |
— |
–6.4 |
|||
Retail trade |
— |
1.4 |
–8.2 |
3.2 |
–0.7 |
–6.8 |
October-22 |
|
— |
2.3 |
–5.6 |
2.6 |
–1.2 |
–4.8 |
|||
Industrial production index |
–3.4 |
1.8 |
–9.3 |
8.3 |
1.2 |
–9.1 |
October-22 |
|
–5.3 |
1.8 |
–9.2 |
7.1 |
3.3 |
–7.1 |
|||
Service activity index |
— |
4.6 |
–15.6 |
15.1 |
21.2 |
19.9 |
September-22 |
|
— |
5.1 |
–15.6 |
15.8 |
22.4 |
22.3 |
|||
Consumer price index |
2.0 |
1.0 |
–0.4 |
2.9 |
6.4 |
11.0 |
November-22 |
|
1.7 |
0.7 |
–0.3 |
3.1 |
6.8 |
11.8 |
|||
Labour market |
Registered workers affiliated to Social Security |
–3.2 |
3.4 |
–2.4 |
2.4 |
2.9 |
4.5 |
November-22 |
–3.1 |
3.2 |
–2.1 |
2.5 |
2.7 |
4.7 |
|||
Registered workers affiliated to Social Security not affected by furlough |
–3.2 |
3.4 |
–10.6 |
7.9 |
4.5 |
4.8 |
November-22 |
|
–3.1 |
3.2 |
–9.2 |
7.3 |
4.1 |
5.1 |
|||
Unemployment rate |
17.9 |
15.1 |
12,6 |
11.6 |
9.3 |
— |
Q3 2022 |
|
20.2 |
18.8 |
15.5 |
14.8 |
12.7 |
— |
|||
Unemployment rate for under 25s |
39.7 |
35.2 |
34.0 |
28.9 |
25.7 |
— |
Q3 2022 |
|
42.5 |
42.5 |
38.3 |
44.7 |
31.0 |
— |
|||
|
Public deficit |
–3.4 |
–1.3 |
–0.4 |
–0.3 |
–0.9 |
— |
Q2 2022 |
–2.7 |
–0.9 |
–0.2 |
0.0 |
–0.6 |
— |
|||
Autonomous Communities public debt (% of GDP) |
18.6 |
34.2 |
37.5 |
36.0 |
34.6 |
— |
Q3 2022 |
|
12.3 |
24.1 |
27.2 |
25.9 |
24.3 |
— |
|||
|
Housing prices (% year-on-year change) |
–10.3 |
7.1 |
2.0 |
3.5 |
6.4 |
13.6 |
Q3 2022 |
–8.1 |
5.3 |
2.1 |
3.7 |
7.6 |
14.1 |
|||
Housing sales (% cumulative annual change) |
–6.1 |
11.1 |
–18.7 |
35.3 |
16.7 |
51.5 |
September-22 |
|
–10.8 |
9.7 |
–16.9 |
34.8 |
18.3 |
49.8 |
|||
|
Exports of goods (% cumulative annual change) |
3.1 |
4.2 |
–10.0 |
21.1 |
17.0 |
16.1 |
October-22 |
4.6 |
3.9 |
–9.4 |
20.1 |
23.6 |
32.0 |
|||
Tourist overnight stays (% cumulative annual change) |
2.2 |
3.0 |
–71.2 |
85.3 |
84.0 |
0.5 |
October-22 |
|
0.7 |
3.0 |
–69.2 |
78.3 |
83.0 |
0.7 |
Notes: *The 2021 GDP figure for the Autonomous Communities is an estimate made by CaixaBank Research.
Source: CaixaBank Research, based on data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Bank of Spain, Migration and Social Security (MITRAMISS), the Ministry of Finance and DataComex.
Below we show a series of charts comparing the main indicators for the various regions.
Regional comparison