The Catalan government registered 3,604 complaints regarding linguistic rights violations across Catalonia in 2025, a significant rise from 2,671 in 2023 and 2,423 in 2024. Francesc Xavier Vila, the Minister for Linguistic Policy, provided these figures in response to a parliamentary question from Junts, published on Tuesday in the Official Parliament Bulletin.
Most complaints were submitted to the Catalan Consumer Agency, with others directed to the departments of Health, Linguistic Policy, and Universities. The Catalan Consumer Agency, part of the Department for Business and Labour, received 2,581 complaints in 2025, compared to 1,874 in 2023 and 1,576 in 2024. Of the 2025 complaints, 946 were transferred to other government departments or local councils, while many others led to inspection actions.
In 2025, 1,144 actions resulted from complaints from previous years. To date, 365 cases have been resolved, while 277 remain unresolved, leading to sanctioning procedures.
Consumer and Health Complaints Lead
Beyond consumer issues, healthcare generated the most complaints. The Department of Health received 360 Catalan-related complaints in 2025, up from 256 in 2023 and 273 in 2024. The Department for Linguistic Policy received 391 complaints in 2025 across areas like consumer affairs, health, justice, and state administration. These were forwarded to the relevant departments for action. The department's own figures show 411 linguistic complaints in 2023 and 334 in 2024, remaining fairly stable over three years.
Of the 467 complaints received by the Department for Linguistic Policy in 2025, concerning Catalan and other languages, about 68% have been resolved, with 31% still pending.
Universities and Public Transport Under Scrutiny
Linguistic Policy data also show complaints in other areas, including universities. The Department for Research and Universities received 118 complaints about linguistic discrimination concerning Catalan during the 2024-2025 academic year. This compares to 41 complaints in 2022-2023 and 141 in 2023-2024. The department attributes the increase in the last two years to institutional campaigns promoting linguistic rights complaint channels at universities. Complaints covered issues such as teachers changing language, a lack of course offerings in Catalan, or teaching materials not available in Catalan.
The Department for Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition received 106 complaints, mostly related to Rodalies commuter rail services and mobility. Common reasons included a lack of Catalan use or phonetic errors in station announcements, signage errors, the language used by customer service and security staff, and self-service machine signage. This department also saw a notable increase from 71 complaints in 2023 and 85 in 2024.
Other departments received fewer complaints. Equality and Feminism, through the Office for Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination, received 23 complaints in 2025. Justice and Democratic Quality recorded 15, Culture four, Presidency three, and Social Rights and Sports one each. The departments of Economy, Education, Foreign Action, and Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries reported no linguistic discrimination complaints in 2025.
NGO Also Reports Record Complaints
Plataforma per la Llengua, a pro-Catalan language organisation, also reported a record number of complaints in 2025, receiving over 3,000 linguistic complaints, averaging more than eight per day. This marks a more than 650% increase over a decade ago, and double the figure from five years prior, according to the organisation.
The organisation suggests two reasons for this growth. Firstly, citizens are increasingly aware and less tolerant of 'Catalanophobia' incidents, leading Catalan speakers to report issues more persistently. Secondly, Plataforma per la Llengua states that institutions have not adequately addressed language issues, leaving citizens to face the consequences. Similar to government data, the sectors with the most complaints were consumer affairs and healthcare.
