Is Barcelona richer today than ten years ago? And the Barcelonians? These are two questions that might seem equivalent, but they are not. At least in the world of economics. If we only used a single indicator, we would answer the first question with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the second with the GDP per capita. That is, the wealth generated, on average, by each inhabitant and, although it does not equate to the salary or income of each person, it does allow us to measure to what extent an economy is capable of creating value. It is no coincidence that it is one of the figures most closely followed by institutions such as the Círculo de Economía when they warn about the competitiveness and productivity challenges of Catalonia and Barcelona.
According to the latest advanced data from Idescat, the GDP per inhabitant of the city of Barcelona stood at 56,360 euros in 2024, well above the average of 39,531 euros for Catalonia. Between the two is the Barcelona Metropolitan Area with a GDP per inhabitant close to 45,000 euros, also clearly higher than the whole of the Catalan territory. The difference is notable: the Catalan capital generates, on average, about 43% more wealth per inhabitant than Catalonia.
The comparison is also favorable with respect to Spain. According to provisional data from the INE, the Spanish GDP per inhabitant was 32,630 euros in 2024, while the average for the European Union was 39,950 euros. However, if we compare it with another large metropolis, the difference with Madrid is minimal, but the city of Madrid wins, with 58,000 euros.
The difference with Madrid is minimal, but the city of Madrid wins, with a GDP per capita of 58,000 euros
The current snapshot also makes sense when viewed in perspective. Just ten years ago, Barcelona's GDP per inhabitant was 40,600 euros. Today it exceeds 56,000 euros, which represents an increase of almost 15,800 euros per inhabitant, about 39% more than in 2014.
Barcelona's GDP exceeded 100,000 million euros for the first time in 2023, reaching 103,589 million. Today, the city generates more than a third of all Catalonia's wealth, a weight that has remained stable —and slightly on the rise— in recent years.
The figure that most worries economists
But the debate about GDP per capita goes much further than knowing whether a city or a country is more or less rich. In recent years, institutions such as the Cercle d'Economia have insisted that this indicator is one of the best ways to measure the productivity of an economy. The reason is simple: total GDP can grow simply because more people live there. GDP per capita, on the other hand, allows us to know if each worker and each company are generating more value than before.
It is precisely here that the alarms go off. Both the Cercle d'Economia and the Phoenix Report, coordinated by Xavier Roig with the participation of economists Jordi Galí and Miquel Puig, warn that Catalonia has been dragging a productivity problem for years. According to this study, Catalan GDP per capita has lost 12 percentage points compared to the European average in the last 25 years. In this period, the economy has continued to grow, but it has done so mainly thanks to population growth, while the wealth generated per inhabitant has been relatively, not absolutely, decreasing.
The authors attribute this evolution mainly to an excessive specialization in low value-added sectors, a high dependence on low-skilled labor, and a growth model that has prioritized volume over productivity. Therefore, they propose reorienting the economy towards activities with more added value, favoring higher wages, and adapting training and immigration policies to the needs of a more competitive economy.
But GDP per capita is not income
However, a city with a high GDP per capita does not necessarily imply that all its citizens have this income. GDP per capita measures the wealth that is generated; disposable income, on the other hand, measures the money that actually reaches households after taxes and transfers.
In Barcelona, disposable income is currently 22,994 euros per person, less than half of the GDP per capita. And this average, moreover, hides very significant differences between neighborhoods: while Les Tres Torres exceeds 41,000 euros per inhabitant, Ciutat Meridiana remains below 12,000 euros.
A city cannot be explained with a single figure
That is why economists rarely observe a single indicator. GDP per capita speaks of productivity; disposable income, of family well-being; unemployment, of the labor market; and housing prices, of the cost of living in the city.
In 2025, for example, Barcelona continued to grow economically —with a GDP increase of 3%, above Catalonia and Spain—, but also registered a new 10% increase in housing prices, while family income advanced at a much more moderate pace than the previous year. The unemployment rate, for its part, currently stands at 7.7%. But a city's labor market cannot be explained with a single figure either. We'll leave that for another Barcelona in figures. Another Monday.