Province of Barcelona

This article is about the Spanish province. For the similarly-named province in Venezuela, see Barcelona Province (Venezuela). For other uses, see Barcelona (disambiguation).

Barcelona (Catalan: [bəɾsəˈlonə] ; Spanish: [baɾθeˈlona]) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is 7,726 km² (2,983 sq mi). A total of 5,743,402 people live in the province, of whom about 29% (1,664,182) live within the administrative limits of the city of Barcelona, which itself is contained in the Barcelona metropolitan area.

Province of Barcelona Província de Barcelona (Catalan) Provincia de Barcelona (Spanish)
Province
Aerial view
Flag Coat of arms
Map of Spain with Province of Barcelona highlighted
Country	Spain
Autonomous community	Catalonia
Capital	Barcelona
Government
• Body	Provincial Deputation of Barcelona
• President	Lluïsa Moret (PSC)
Area
• Total	7,726 km2 (2,983 sq mi)
• Rank	Ranked 33rd
	1.53% of Spain
Population  (2018)
• Total	5,743,402
• Rank	Ranked 2nd
	12.02% of Spain
ISO 3166 code	ES-B
Official language(s)	Catalan • Spanish
Parliament	Cortes Generales Parliament of Catalonia
Website	www.diba.cat

Divisions

See also: Local government in Spain and List of municipalities in Barcelona

The capital of the province is the city of Barcelona, and the provincial council is based in the Casa Serra on the Rambla de Catalunya in that city. Some other cities and towns in Barcelona province include L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Martorell, Mataró, Granollers, Sabadell, Terrassa, Sitges, Igualada, Vic, Manresa, and Berga.

Since the division by provinces in Spain and the division by comarques in Catalonia do not completely agree, the term comarques of the province of Barcelona would not be entirely correct. However, a list of the comarques that are included—totally or partially—in the province of Barcelona can be made:

• Fully included:
  • Alt Penedès
  • Anoia
  • Bages
  • Baix Llobregat
  • Barcelonès
  • Garraf
  • Maresme
  • Moianès
  • Vallès Occidental
  • Vallès Oriental
• Partially included:
  • Berguedà (all municipalities except Gósol)
  • Osona (all municipalities except Espinelves, Vidrà and Viladrau)
  • Selva (only the municipality of Fogars de la Selva)

Geography

The Catalan Pre-Coastal Range and Catalan Coastal Range mountains run through the Province of Barcelona. There are several notable smaller mountain ranges that are located in the province, including Montseny Massif, Serra de Collserola, and Tibidabo. Pedraforca is the tallest mountain in the province, located on the north side as part of the Pre-Pyrenees. Tibidabo is the mountain that overlooks the city of Barcelona.

The majority of the Province of Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate on the coast and an oceanic climate inland.

Population development

Province of Barcelona population pyramid in 2022

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Largest groups of foreign residents

Nationality	Population (2022)
Morocco	134,020
Italy	66,375
China	54,378
Pakistan	48,572
Colombia	38,991
Honduras	35,870
Romania	32,444
France	28,043

Presidency

Notes and references

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Barcelona (Spanish province)". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.