This article is about the demographic features of the population of the Czech Republic, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Population[link]

Population of the Czech Republic, Data of FAO, year 2009 ; Number of inhabitants in millions.

With an estimated population of 10,542,080 at 30 June 2011, compared to 9.3 million at the beginning of the twentieth century, the population growth of the Czech Republic was limited and characterized by low fertility rates and loss of population in and around WW I and WW II. Population loss during WW I was approximately 350,000. At the beginning of WW II population the Czech Republic reached its maximum (11.2 million). Due to the expulsion of the German residents after WW II the Czech Republic lost about 3 million inhabitants and in 1947 the population was only 8.8 million. Population growth resumed until 1994 when the population was 10.3 million. From 1994-2005 natural growth was negative and the population decreased to 10.2 million. Since 2006, natural growth has been positive, but the most important factor for the recent population of the Czech Republic has been immigration, approximately 300,000 during the last decade.

Population census[link]

The following statistics on age structure and sex ration are from the CIA World Factbook.

Age structure[link]

2010
0–14 years: 14.2% (male ; female )
15–64 years: 70.6% (male ; female )
65 years and over: 15.2% (male ; female )

2007
0–14 years: 14.2% (male 758,305; female 718,618)
15–64 years: 71.2% (male 3,726,148; female 3,665,225)
65 years and over: 14.6% (male 598,481; female 914,353)

2006
0–14 years: 14.4% (male 760,065; female 719,449)
15–64 years: 71.2% (male 3,683,215; female 3,642,023)
65 years and over: 14.4% (male 582,904; female 899,533)

2005
0–14 years: 14.7% (male 773,028; female 731,833)
15–64 years: 71.1% (male 3,651,018; female 3,627,006)
65 years and over: 14.2% (male 565,374; female 892,879)

2004
0–14 years: 14.9% (male 784,186; female 742,760)
15–64 years: 71.0% (male 3,638,782; female 3,620,219)
65 years and over: 14.0% (male 557,945; female 876,685)

2003
0–14 years: 15.2% (male 797,847; female 756,628)
15–64 years: 70.8% (male 3,625,092; female 3,608,696)
65 years and over: 13.9% (male 551,801; female 871,391)

Sex ratio[link]

at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.65 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

Vital statistics[link]

[edit] Births and deaths^[1]

Infant mortality rate[link]

3.3 in 2006, 3.1 in 2007, 2.8 in 2008, 2.9 in 2009 and 2.7 in 2010.

Life expectancy at birth[link]

male: 74.2 years
female: 80.1 years (2009)

Ethnic groups[link]

The majority of the 10.5 million inhabitants of the Czech Republic are ethnically and linguistically Czech (95%). Other ethnic groups include Germans, Roma, Poles and Hungarians. Historical minorities like those of Germans and Poles are declining due to assimilation. The Roma community is growing, while there is also a growing Vietnamese community. Other ethnic communities like Greeks, Turks, Italians and Yugoslavs are found in its capital city, Prague. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Slovaks staying in the Czech Republic have comprised roughly 3% of the population.

There are different groups of national and ethnic minorities in the Czech Republic. The so called old minorities usually live mostly in particular areas (e.g. Poles in the Zaolzie region, Germans in the Hultschiner region) while the new minorities are scattered among the majority population (generally in the larger towns). While some of the minorities have the whole social structure of the Czech society (Poles, Slovaks, Greeks), other represent only some of the social groups (i.e. Russian newcomers of middle class, or Ukrainians and Romanis who generally represent the underclass).^[2]

1880-1910[link]

after WW I[link]

The legal position of the minorities is defined foremost in the Act No. 273/2001 Coll. (The Rights of the Minorities Act) which implements the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms, Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and Recommendation of the Council of Europe No. 1201. There is a number of other enactments which to lesser extent deal with the minorities.

Special situation is in the case of Moravians and Silesians, who are frequently allocated within the group of Czechs when it comes to the statistical data.

Roma^[4]

Officially recognized minorities[link]

Minorities, which "traditionally and on long term basis live within the territorry of the Czech Republic" enjoy some privileges. As of 2010 there are 12 such officially recognized minorities, which are (alphabetically): Bulgarians, Croatians, Hungarians, Germans, Greeks, Poles, Romanis, Russians, Rusyns, Serbians, Slovaks and Ukrainians.^[5] Belorusian and Vietnamese minority may obtain this status in near future.^[6]

Among the privileges of the officially recognized minorities are the right to have signs within the municipalities also in their language, right to have the information about elections in their language (both if the minority comprises at least 10% of the municipality's population), right to education in their language, cultural rights including state support for preservation of traditions.

Citizens belonging to the officially recognized minorities enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in front of the courts of law. The article 25 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms ensures right of the national and ethnic minorities for education and communication with authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. (The Administrative Rule) in its paragraph 16 (4) (Procedural Language) ensures, that a citizen of the Czech republic, who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, have right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. In case that the administrative agency doesn't have an employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 (About The Rights of Members of Minorities) paragraph 9 (The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in front of the courts of law) the same applies for the members of national minorities also in front of the courts of law.

Bulgarians[link]

In 1990s the economic immigration of Bulgarians to the Czech Republic started. 4 363 citizens claimed to have Bulgarian nationality in the 2001 census. They mostly live in the large cities and towns, such as Prague, Brno and Ostrava, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Ústí nad Labem, Děčín, Havířov etc. Nowadays the newcomers from Bulgaria aim especially for these areas, in which they can hold on the established community. Many of these economical immigrants have dual citizenship of both the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. However most of the recent immigrants still have only Bulgarian citizenship.

The Bulgarian Cultural Organisation publishes magazine Roden Glas, while a folklore organisation Kytka promotes traditional Bulgarian dances. Among other organisations are Pirin, Zaedno, Vazraždane or Hyshove.^[7]

As an officially recognized minority the Bulgarian citizens of the Czech Republic enjoy right to use their language in communications with authorities and in front of the courts of law. They also enjoy a number of other rights connected to the status of recognized minority, i.e. the right for education in the own language (the first Bulgarian school in the nowadays Czech Republic was established in 1946 in Prague).

Germans[link]

Pre-1945 areas with ethnic German majority (in black) inside the current Czech Republic's territories.

The German minority of the Czech Republic, historically the largest minority of the country, was almost entirely removed when 3 million were forcibly expelled in 1945–6. The constitution guarantees rights for minority languages, however there are 13 municipalities with German minority constituting 10% of population, which qualifies for such provisions.^[8] There is no bilingual education system in Western and Northern Bohemia, where the German minority is mostly concentrated. However, this is in large part due to the absence of German-speaking youth, a heritage of the post-war policy of the Communist government.

According to the 2001 census there remain 13 municipalities and settlements in the Czech Republic with more than 10% Germans.^[8]

Many representatives of expellees' organizations support the erection of bilingual signs in all formerly German speaking territory as a visible sign of the bilingual linguistic and cultural heritage of the region, yet their efforts are not supported by some of the current inhabitants, as the vast majority of the current population is not of German descent.

The German-Czech Declaration of 21 January 1997 covered the two most critical issues — the role of the Sudeten Germans in the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and their expulsion after WWII.^[9]

Greeks[link]

Another influential minority are Greeks (including Macedonians or "Slavonic Greeks"). Large numbers of Greeks arrived in Czechoslovakia during the end of the Greek Civil War. The first transports of Greek children arrived in 1948 and 1949. Later, more transports, also including adults, arrived.^[10] They were partly leftists, communists and guerillas with their relatives, hence the willingness of Czechoslovak government to allow the immigration.^[11] This was viewed rather as a temporary solution. After the defeat of DSE and other left-wing guerillas, the Greeks stayed in Czechoslovakia. In total more than 12,000 Greeks immigrated to Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1950.^[11] Today, there are about 7000 Greeks in the country (3219 according to 2001 census data),^[11] mostly in the 3 biggest towns – Prague, Brno, Ostrava – and also in Bohumín, Havířov, Jeseník, Karviná, Krnov, Šumperk, Třinec, Vrbno pod Pradědem and Žamberk (apart from the last one these towns are in Silesia).^[12]

Poles[link]

The most concentrated linguistic minority in the Czech Republic are ethnic Poles, historically the plurality, today constituting about 10% of the Karviná and Frýdek-Místek districts population. Poles have the right to use their language in official dealings, the public media (the Czech TV and the Czech Radio) regularly broadcast in Polish, and there are many Polish primary and secondary schools in the area. The Polish minority has been decreasing substantially since World War II as education in Polish was difficult to obtain, while Czech authorities did not permit bilingual signs to maintain Polish awareness among the population.

The erection of bilingual signs has technically been permitted since 2001, if a minority constitutes 10% of the population of a municipality. The requirement that a petition be signed by the members of minority was cancelled, thus simplifying whole process.^[13] Still, only a couple of villages with large Polish minorities have bilingual signs (Vendryně/Wędrynia for instance).

Romanis[link]

Another minority is the Roma, who nonetheless have very little influence on Czech policy. Around 90% of the Roma that lived in the Czech Republic prior to World War II were exterminated by the Nazi Porajmos. The Roma there now are 80% post-war immigrants from Slovakia or Hungary, or the descendants thereof. In total, the Roma in the CR now number around 200,000.^[14] There is Romani press in the CR, written in both Czech and Romani, but Romani radio is broadcast in Czech and there is no Romani television. Romani is also absent from legislative, judiciary, and other political texts but it has recently entered some university and elementary school courses. Life expectancy, literacy, median wage, school enrolment, and other socio-economic markers remain low while, according to Říčan (1998), Roma compose the majority of prison and habitual offender populations despite accounting for only a fraction of a percent of Czech population.

Immigration[link]

According to the 2011 census there were 543,000 permanent(i.e. legal) foreign residents in the Czech Republic (5% of the total population)^[15]. Residents from the Ukraine are the largest group (118,000), followed by residents of Slovakia (84,000). There are also Asian minorities in the Czech Republic. The largest is the Vietnamese one (83,000 in 2011). During the communist era the governments of Czechoslovakia and Vietnam had a deal concerning the education of Vietnamese people in Czechoslovakia. Vietnamese people came to Czechoslovakia for the first time in 1956 and then the number of new migrants grew until the fall of communism. First generation Vietnamese work mostly as small-scale businessmen in markets. Still, many Vietnamese are without Czech citizenship. One of the towns with the largest Vietnamese communities is Cheb. There are also many people from Russia (36,000), Germany (21,000) and Poland (18,000). Additionally, due to recent changes in immigration laws making it harder for non-EU migrants to obtain work permit, Czech republic is estimated to have another 400,000 illegal migrants on its territory.

Languages[link]

The most commonly known foreign languages in the Czech Republic in 2005. According to Eurostat^[16]

Czech language (divided into three dialects in Bohemia proper, four dialects in Moravia, and two dialects in Czech Silesia) is the official language of the state. There is also the transitional Cieszyn Silesian dialect as well as Polish language in Cieszyn Silesia, both spoken in Czech Silesia. Various Sudeten German dialects are currently practically extinct; present Czech Germans speak mainly Czech or Standard German.

For other languages spoken in the Czech Republic, see the above part about minorities.

Religion[link]

Most of the Czech population prefer not responding on religious matters in Census (45.2%). Others claim to have no religion or that they are without religious affiliation (34.2%). Comparatively, one in every five claim to have some personal belief (20.6%).

Largest denomination is Roman Catholicism, estimated at 10.3% of the population, Protestant (0.5%), Hussites (0.4%). Other organized religions, including non-organized believers combined about (9.4%) (as of Census 2011).

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,^[21] 19% of Czech citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 50% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 30% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force", the lowest rate of EU countries after Estonia with 16%.^[22]

External links[link]

• Czech Statistical Office, state institution responsible to provide official data about Czech Republic
• Ethnic groups living in the Czech Republic (click on menu for others)

References[link]

v t e Czech Republic History Czechoslovakia Geography Rivers Governance Government Constitution Foreign relations Military Law enforcement Politics Elections Political parties Economy Tourism Transport Society Demographics Education Religion Crime Culture Czech culture Music Sport Symbols Flag Coat of arms Category Portal WikiProject

Spanish people  · Españoles

1st row: Isabella I of Castile · Ferdinand II of Aragon · Francisco Pizarro · Hernán Cortés · Ignatius Loyola · Teresa of Ávila 2nd row: Cervantes · Francisco Goya  · Rosalía de Castro · Picasso · Dalí · Sara Montiel 3rd row:Placido Domingo · Julio Iglesias · Antonio Banderas · Penelope Cruz · Cayetano Rivera · Rafael Nadal
Total population
Spain 46,030,109[1] Nationals abroad : 1,702,778[2] – 37.6% were born in Spain 61.6% are in the Americas – 35.4% are in Europe – 3% other[2] Hundreds of millions of Latin Americans with Spanish ancestry
Regions with significant populations
Argentina 322,022 [3]  France 183,277 [4]  Venezuela 167,311 [5]  Germany 105,916 [6] Switzerland 90,542 [7]  Brazil 82,189 [8]  Mexico 77,069 [9] United States 72,730 [10]  United Kingdom 60,368 [11]  Uruguay 54,544 [12]  Cuba 52,638 [13]  Belgium 43,397 [14]  Chile 33,725 [15]  Andorra 23,296 [16]  Netherlands 18,724 [17]
Languages
Languages of Spain (Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Galician and others)
Religion
Christian (Mostly Roman Catholicism 76%) No religion 13% · Atheism 7.3% · other faith 2.1% incl. Jewish · Muslim · Buddhist · Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Portuguese · French · Italians other Western Europeans · Hispanics · Sephardi Jews

The term Spanish people (or Spaniards) has two distinct meanings: Traditionally, it applies to people native to any part of Spain. More recently, it has also come to have a legal meaning, referring to people who hold Spanish citizenship.

Within Spain there are a number of nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history. The official language of Spain is Spanish (also known as Castilian), a standard language based on the mediaeval dialect of the Castilians of north-central Spain. There are several commonly spoken regional languages. With the exception of Basque, the languages native to Spain are Romance languages.

There are substantial populations outside Spain with ancestors who emigrated from Spain; most notably in Latin America.

Historical background[link]

Early populations[link]

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Iberian stone female head from 3rd or 2nd century BC

A young Hispano-Roman nobleman from 1st cent. BC

The earliest modern humans inhabiting Spain are believed to have been Neolithic peoples who may have arrived in the Iberian Peninsula as early as 35,000­–40,000 years ago. In more recent times the Iberians are believed to have arrived or developed in the region between the 4th millennium BC and the 3rd millennium BC, initially settling along the Mediterranean coast. Celts settled in Spain during the Iron Age. Some of those tribes in North-central Spain, which had cultural contact with the Iberians, are called Celtiberians. In addition, a group known as the Tartessians and later Turdetanians inhabited southwestern Spain and who are believed to have developed a separate civilization of Phoenician influence. The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks, and Carthaginians successively founded trading colonies along the Mediterranean coast over a period of several centuries. The Second Punic War between the Carthaginians and Romans was fought mainly in what is now Spain and Portugal.^[18]

The Roman Republic conquered Iberia during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC transformed most of the region into a series of Latin-speaking provinces. As a result of Roman colonization, the majority of local languages, with the exception of Basque, stem from the Vulgar Latin that was spoken in Hispania (Roman Iberia), which evolved into the modern languages of the Iberian Peninsula, including Castilian, which became the main lingua franca of Spain, and is now known in most countries as Spanish. Hispania emerged as an important part of the Roman Empire and produced notable historical figures such as Trajan, Hadrian, Seneca and Quintilian.

The Germanic Vandals and Suebi, with part of the Iranic Alans under King Respendial, arrived en masse in the peninsula in 409 AD^{[citation needed]}. It is widely believed that the Vandals may have given their name to the region of Andalusia formerly known as Baetica, which according to one of several theories of its etymology which would be the source of Al-Andalus, the Arabic name of the Iberian peninsula. Part of the Vandals with the remaining Alans, now under Geiseric in personal union removed themselves to North Africa after a few conflicts with another Germanic tribe, the Visigoths, who established in Toulouse supported Roman campaigns against the Vandals and Alans in 415–19 AD and became the dominant power in Iberia for three centuries. The Visigoths were highly romanized in the eastern Empire and already Christians, so their integration within the late Iberian-Roman culture was full; they accepted the laws and structures of the late Roman World with little change, more than any other successor barbarian state in the West after the Ostrogoths, and all the more so after abandoning the Arian cult.^{[citation needed]} The other Germanic tribe remaining in the peninsula, the Suebi (including the Buri), became established according to sources as federates of the Roman Empire in the old North western Roman province of Gallaecia, but in fact largely independent and predatory on neighboring provinces to stretch their political control over ever-larger portions of the southwest after the Vandals and Alans left, creating a totally independent Suebic Kingdom. After being checked and reduced in 456 AD by the Visigoths moving to settle in the peninsula, it survived until 585 AD, when it was annihilated as an independent political unit by the Visigoths, after involvement in the internal affairs of the kingdom, supporting Catholic rebellions and sedition within the Royal family^{[citation needed]}. The Suebi became the first Germanic kingdom to convert officially to Roman Catholicism in 447 AD. under king Rechiar.

Middle Ages[link]

Conversion of Reccared I, Visigothic King of Hispania, Septimania and Galicia

The interior of the Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba

After two centuries of domination by the Visigothic Kingdom, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by Muslim armies in 711. These armies consisted mainly of Berbers with prominent Arab tribal leaders amongst them and were commonly known as the Moors. They conquered nearly all of the peninsula except for the Christian Kingdom of Asturias in the far north. Muslim controlled areas of Iberia became known as Al-Andalus. The duration of Muslim rule varied greatly, from as little as twenty two years in the Northwest of the peninsula to 781 years in the far south. For the first three centuries of Muslim rule, the peninsula's Christian kingdoms in the north were very much on the defensive, but eventually after the break-up of Muslim unity in the 11th century, the Muslims were driven south in a long process that historians term the Reconquista, which ended with their final capitulation in 1492.

In the first two centuries of Al-Andalus, Muslims formed a ruling minority. Another minority, present since Roman times, were the Jews. In the 10th century a massive conversion of the population from Christianity to Islam took place, so that muladies comprised the majority of the population by the century's end.^[19] However, the process began to reverse as the Christian reconquest gathered pace. Ultimately, Jews and Muslims either converted to Catholicism or were expelled from Spain in 1492 and 1502, following the completion of the Reconquista. Between 1609 and 1614, approximately 300,000 Moriscos—new Christians forcibly converted from Islam who continued to speak, write, and dress like Muslims—were expelled.^[20]

In 842, another group of Arabian tribes, Amazigh or Berber, invaded the peninsula. They attacked Cádiz in 844. These Amazigah were hispanised in all Christian kingdoms, while they kept their ethnic identity and culture in Al-Andalus.^[21]

The union of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and the conquest of Granada led to the formation of the Spanish state as we know it today and thus to the development of Spanish identity in the form of one people. The Canary Islands had an indigenous population called the Guanches, whose origin is still the subject of discussion among historians and linguists.

Colonialism and emigration[link]

In the 16th century, following the military conquest of most of the new continent, perhaps 240,000 Spaniards entered American ports. They were joined by 450,000 in the next century.^[22] Since the conquest of Mexico and Peru these two regions became the principal destinations of Spanish colonial settlers in the 16th century.^[23] In the period 1850–1950, 3.5 million Spanish left for the Americas, particularly Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico,^[24] Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and Cuba.^[25] From 1840 to 1890, as many as 40,000 Canary Islanders emigrated to Venezuela.^[26] 94,000 Spaniards chose to go to Algeria in the last years of the 19th century, and 250,000 Spaniards lived in Morocco at the beginning of the 20th century.^[25]

By the end of the Spanish Civil War, some 500,000 Spanish Republican refugees had crossed the border into France.^[27] From 1961 to 1974, at the height of the guest worker in Western Europe, about 100,000 Spaniards emigrated each year.^[25]

The peoples of Spain[link]

Valencian girls in historical costumes

Nationalisms and regionalisms[link]

Within Spain, there are various regional populations including the Castilians, the Catalans, Valencians and Balearics (who speak Catalan, a distinct Romance language in eastern Spain), the Basques (who live in the Basque country and speak Basque, a non-Indo-European language), and the Galicians (who speak Galician, a descendant of old Galician-Portuguese).

Galicia

Navarre

Madrid

La Rioja

Aragon

Catalonia

Valencia

Castile
–La Mancha

Extremadura

Portugal

Castile
and León

Asturias

Cantabria

Basque Country

Murcia

Andalusia

Ceuta

Melilla

France

Balearic
Islands

Canary
Islands

Mediterranean Sea

Bay of Biscay

Atlantic
Ocean

Andorra

Atlantic
Ocean

25px

Gibraltar (UK)

Respect to the existing cultural pluralism is important to many Spaniards. In many regions there exist strong regional identities such as Asturias, Aragon, the Canary Islands, León, and Andalusia, while in others (like Catalonia, Basque Country or Galicia) there are stronger national sentiments. Some of them refuse to identify themselves with spanish ethnic group and prefer some of the following:

Regional ethnic groups

• Andalusian people
• Aragonese people
• Asturian people
• Balearic people
• Basque people
• Canarian people
• Cantabrian people
• Castilian people
• Catalan people
• Extremaduran people
• Galician people
• Leonese people
• Valencian people

The Roma[link]

Spanish gypsy

Spain is home to one of the largest communities of Romani people (commonly known by the English exonym "gypsies", Spanish: gitanos). The Spanish Roma, which belong to the Iberian Kale subgroup (calé), are a formerly-nomadic community, which spread across Western Asia, North Africa, and Europe, first reaching Spain in the 15th century.

Spanish Roma, for a number of historical and cultural reasons are not considered a separate or "foreign" population in Spain, but a distinct ethnicity constituting one of the populations native to Spain. Roma play an important role in particularly Andalusian folklore, music, and culture.

There are no official statistics on the Roma population, but estimates fluctuate between 600,000 and 1,500,000, with the Spanish government's estimating a number between 650,000 and 700,000. Most Spanish Roma live in the autonomous community of Andalusia, where they have traditionally enjoyed a higher degree of integration than in the rest of the country. A number of Spanish Kale also live in Southern France, especially in the region of Perpignan.

Modern immigration[link]

The population of Spain is becoming increasingly diverse due to recent immigration. From 2000 to 2010, Spain had among the highest per capita immigration rates in the world and the second highest absolute net migration in the World (after the USA)^[28] and immigrants now make up about 10% of the population. Since 2000, Spain has absorbed more than 3 million immigrants, with thousands more arriving each year.^[29] Immigrant population now tops over 4.5 million.^[30] They come mainly from Europe, Latin America, China, the Philippines, North Africa, and West Africa.^[31]

Languages[link]

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The vernacular languages of Spain (simplified)

Spanish official; spoken all over the country   Catalan/Valencian, co-official   Basque, co-official   Galician, co-official

Aranese, co-official (dialect of Occitan)   Asturian, recognised   Aragonese, recognised   Leonese, recognised   Extremaduran, unofficial   Fala, unofficial

Languages spoken in Spain include Spanish (castellano or español) (74%), Catalan (català, called valencià in the Valencian Community) (17%), Galician (galego) (7%), and Basque (euskara) (2%).^[32] Other languages are Asturian (asturianu), Aranese Gascon (aranés), Aragonese (aragonés), and Leonese, each with their own various dialects. Spanish is the official state language, although the other languages are co-official in a number of autonomous communities.

Peninsular Spanish is largely considered to be divided into two main dialects: Castilian Spanish (spoken in the northern half of the country) and Andalusian Spanish (spoken mainly in Andalusia). However, a large part of Spain, including Madrid, Extremadura, Murcia, and Castile–La Mancha, speak local dialects known as "transitional dialects" between Andalusian and Castilian Spanish.^[33] The Canary Islands also have a distinct dialect of Castilian Spanish which is very close to Caribbean Spanish. Linguistically, the Spanish language is a Romance language and is one of the aspects (including laws and general "ways of life") that causes Spaniards to be labelled a Latin people. The strong Arabic influence on the language (nearly 4,000 words are of Arabic origin, many nouns and few verbs)^[34] and the independent evolution of the language itself through history, most notably the Basque influence at the formative stage of Castilian Romance, partially explain its difference from other Romance languages. The Basque language left a strong imprint on Spanish both linguistically and phonetically. Other changes in Spanish have come from borrowings from English and French, although English influence is stronger in Latin America than in Spain.

The number of speakers of Spanish as a mother tongue is roughly 35.6 million, while the vast majority of other groups in Spain such as the Galicians, Catalans, and Basques also speak Spanish as a first or second language, which boosts the number of Spanish speakers to the overwhelming majority of Spain's population of 46 million.

Spanish was exported to the Americas due to over three centuries of Spanish colonial rule starting with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to Santo Domingo in 1492. Spanish is spoken natively by over 400 million people and spans across most countries of the Americas; from the Southwestern United States in North America down to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost region of South America in Chile and Argentina. A variety of the language, known as Judaeo-Spanish or Ladino (or Haketia in Morocco), is still spoken by descendants of Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews) who fled Spain following a decree of expulsion of Moors and Jews in 1492. Also, a Spanish creole language known as Chabacano, which developed by the mixing of Spanish and native Tagalog and Cebuano languages during Spain's rule of the country through Mexico from 1565 to 1898, is spoken in the Philippines (by fewer than 1 million people).

Anti-Franco political dissidents from Spain who moved to Russia during World War II speak a mix of Russian and Spanish, while some speak Catalan and Basque. In Montreal (Quebec, Canada), many Spanish-speaking immigrants relocated in the city adapted a mixed language Franspanol, while they're able to speak French and in addition, English.^{[citation needed]} The Spanish language is also found in small communities of Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Religion[link]