View source for Álava

== Demography and rural landscape ==

[[File:Elgea_-_Embalse_de_Ullíbarri-Gamboa_01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ullibarri-Gamboa]]]]
The province numbers 51 [[municipality|municipalities]], a population of 315,525 inhabitants in an area of {{convert|3037|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}, with an average of 104.50 inhabitants/km<sup>2</sup>.<ref name="alava">{{cite web | url = http://www.alava.net/cs/Satellite?cid=1193046437725&pagename=DiputacionAlava%2FPage%2FDPA_contenidoFinal | title = Su población | publisher = Diputación Foral de Álava | access-date = 2010-05-09 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2011-08-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110810100501/http://www.alava.net/cs/Satellite?cid=1193046437725&pagename=DiputacionAlava%2FPage%2FDPA_contenidoFinal }} Text in Spanish</ref> The vast majority of the population clusters in the capital city of Álava, [[Vitoria-Gasteiz]], which also serves as the capital of the Autonomous Community, but the remainder of the territory is sparsely inhabited with population nuclei distributed into seven counties (''kuadrillak'' or ''cuadrillas''): [[Cuadrilla de Añana|Añana]]; [[Ayala/Aiara]]; [[Campezo/Kanpezu]]; [[Laguardia, Álava|Laguardia]]; [[Salvatierra, Álava|Agurain/Salvatierra]]; [[Vitoria-Gasteiz]]; [[Zuia]].

A 2021 sociolinguistic survey found that 22.4% of the adult population spoke [[Basque language|Basque]], an increase of six percentage points since 2011.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://basquetribune.com/the-basque-language-gains-speakers-but-no-surge-in-usage/ | title=The Basque Language Gains Speakers, but No Surge in Usage – Basque Tribune }}</ref>

===Population development===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right;clear:right;margin-left:1em;"
|+ Most populated municipalities (2021)
|-bgcolor=#efefef
!Position
!Municipality
!Inhabitants
|-
|1st||'''[[Vitoria-Gasteiz]]'''||253,093
|-
|2nd||'''[[Llodio]]'''||18,009
|-
|3nd||'''[[Amurrio]]'''||10,307
|-
|4th||'''[[Agurain]]'''||5,029
|-
|5th||'''[[Iruña Oka]]'''||3,468
|-
|6th||'''[[Oion]]'''||3,418
|-
|7th||'''[[Ayala/Aiara|Aiara]]'''||2,951
|-
|8th||'''[[Dulantzi]]'''||2,925
|-
|9th||'''[[Zuia]]'''||2,318
|-
|10th||'''[[Legutio]]'''||1,993
|-
|11th||'''[[Artziniega]]'''||1,809
|-
|12th||'''[[Zigoitia]]'''||1,802
|-
|13th||'''[[Asparrena]]'''||1,633
|-
|14th||'''[[Labastida]]'''||1,532
|-
|15th||'''[[Laguardia, Álava|Laguardia]]'''||1,464
|-
|}
{{historical populations
|align=none|cols=3
|graph-pos=bottom
|1877|95692
|1887|94165
|1900|98066
|1910|99399
|1920|101357
|1930|105729
|1940|112503
|1950|114139
|1960|133742
|1970|199777
|1980|257850
|1990|272447
|2000|286387
|2010|320778
|2020|333340
| source = Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE
}}