Statistics on Main Characteristics of the Population and Housing. People. 2021

A total of 90.5% of the population aged 16 and over (5,752.5 thousand people) took part in housework, according to the Statistics on Main Characteristics of the Population and Housing 2021. The level of participation varied according to sex, with women being more involved than men. 43.6% of women reported that they did most of the housework whereas for men it was only 15.1%. 38.0% of women and 37.1% of men reported doing a significant part of the housework together with other people, while 12.4% of women and 34.1% of men said they did only a small part of household chores. Finally, 13.7% of men and 6% of women did not do any household chores at all.

A total of 2,604.6 thousand people aged 16 and over (46.9%) lived in households with dependent people (minors, chronically ill or dependent due to disability or old age). 32.5% of women and 27.0% of men were regularly involved in the care of dependent people in the household. By degree of participation, 12.7% of women and 2.4% of men were providing most of the care while 16.1% of women and 15.4% of men were providing a significant proportion of the care on a shared basis. Meanwhile, 3.7% of women and 9.2% of men were providing only a small part of care.

Additionally, 12.2% of the population aged 16 and over (775.8 thousand people) were involved in the care of dependent people out of the household. By sex, participation in these care tasks was 13.2% for women and 11.1% for men.

In Catalonia, 86.3% of the population aged 16 and over (5,484.6 thousand people) had social support, i.e. they had someone to talk to about their daily problems or feelings. By sex, women (87.6%) had more social support than men (84.9%). By age group, people aged 80 and over (89.2%) were the most likely to have social support, followed by those aged 16-29 (88.7%). The lowest percentage of social support was found in the 60-69 age group (84.0%).

A total of 802.8 thousand people aged 16 and over lived alone and 688.5 thousand (85.4%) of them had social support. This support came from various types of relationships. 42% were supported by their children, 41.5% by siblings, 23.6% by parents, 27.8% by other relatives and 70.5% by other people.

With respect to daily mobility for work reasons, 43.7% of the employed population worked in another municipality in the province where they lived, 36.3% in their municipality of residence, 8.2% at home and 3.6% outside their province. The majority of the employed population, 69.7%, made 1 or 2 daily journeys, 12% made 3 or 4 journeys, 1.9% made 5 or more, 8.2% worked in several municipalities and 8.2% did not commute at all. As for transport mode, the most frequently used was the car (49.5%), followed by people on foot (14.5%) and bus (10.3%). In terms of travel time, 19% of the working population spent less than 20 minutes, 24.1% 20-39 minutes, 19.5% 40-59 minutes and 21% 1 hour or more.

With respect to daily mobility for study reasons, 42.2% of Catalan students studied in their municipality of residence, 38.8% in another municipality in their province, 12.8% at home and 5.9% outside their province. When commuting to their place of study, most of the student population, 384.2 thousand people (76.5%), made 1 or 2 daily journeys, 38.7 thousand (7.7%) made 3 or 4 trips, 13.8 thousand (2.7%) made 5 or more, 1.5 thousand (0.3%) studied in several municipalities and 64.3 thousand (12.8%) did not commute at all. As for transport mode, the most frequently used was the bus (30.6%), followed by people on foot (24.5%) and car (18.1%).

Regarding the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), 89.3% of the population aged 16 and over had a smartphone, 82.6% used the internet regularly and 70.1% had a profile on social networks. Furthermore, 48.4% had purchased online and 9.4% had sold online in the previous month.

Idescat is extending the publication of the results of the Statistics on Main Characteristics of the Population and Housing 2021. This includes, for the population aged 16 and over, the results on housework and caregiving, social support, family of origin, daily mobility and use of ICT.