Two images taken at the same point on the Rambla, but more than a hundred years apart. In the oldest, from the beginning of the 20th century, there are many women in aprons and men in suits, there are also some gatherings and more than one idler; There are even those who pose for the camera. In the most modern photo, from a few days ago, the rush and the shorts have taken this walk; The costumes and gestural language have nothing to do with those in the previous photograph. They are images that illustrate the demographic change experienced in this period of time in Barcelona, which is nothing more than an example of what happened in all European capitals.
Last Monday, in the first report of this series, a journalist from today's La Vanguardia traveled to 1881, the year the newspaper was founded. Let's put ourselves in his shoes and discover the human landscape that appears before him, a landscape, by the way, much smaller than today's. Barcelona at that time had about 400,000 inhabitants – four times less than today – and that included the municipalities that were later annexed. The origin of the population was relatively homogeneous, migrations had already occurred, but the massive waves that began a few years later and continued throughout the 20th century had not yet taken place.
Something that would catch the attention of an observer today would be the presence of children. At the end of the 19th century, three out of every ten Barcelona residents were 15 years old or younger, almost 150,000 people, while today they are just over one in ten. There were many births (about 11,000 in 1881, more or less the same as today but with a population four times smaller) and a lot of infant mortality (4,000 children up to five years old died each year). Life expectancy at birth was 31 years, while today it exceeds 84. We have made some progress.
As in all of Europe, in the last years of the 19th century the city had become an industrial city. Many of the people who appear in the street photos of the time were workers in that sector. In fact, more than half of those who worked did so in the industry and, among them, an overwhelming majority, in textiles. An industrial but also commercial city, as shown in the images of the shops and establishments with a large display of signage to attract the public. Some signs that half of the people of Barcelona could not read because they were illiterate.
What if the trip were reversed? What if it were a journalist from 1881 who traveled to the present day? Once the predictable initial shock was overcome, he would see a Barcelona that was certainly more populated, although not necessarily denser, and much more diverse. From the, hopefully, two languages that he would hear on the street 142 years ago, he would move on to a city where 300 languages are present. It is a reflection of the weight in the capital of those born abroad, who today make up 29% of its inhabitants, almost half a million people, more than all Barcelona residents a century and a half ago. At the end of the 19th century, foreigners were barely 5%.
The special envoy of 1881 would also be surprised if Barcelona was an older city. As in all Western countries, the aging of the population is a factor that is determining demographics. In the Catalan capital, 21% of Barcelona residents are 65 or older, a figure that contrasts with 3% 142 years ago. Third age is a definitely modern concept.
A more populated and more diverse city, less young and less industrial. And all this without taking into account the ten million tourists annually, a figure that would be hard for someone from 1881 to believe even if they saw it with their own eyes.
