20 June 2025
Bilbao Campus
On 20 June, the University of Deusto presented the results of the Summer 2024 edition of the Deustobarometer Social Report (DBSoc). According to this biannual survey, which gathers the opinions and preferences of Basque citizens on the issues causing the greatest concern in Basque society, access to housing remains the primary problem (44%), with an upward trend over the past year. Additionally, public opinion continues to rate housing policies poorly, with an average score of 3.7.
Concern about healthcare has decreased in the last 6 months, although it is still the second most important concern for citizens (36%). The rating and confidence in Osakidezta continues to recover, rising from 4.4 to 5.3 in the last year. The cost of living would be the third most important problem for Basque citizens (34%). Concern about security (25%) and immigration (22%) has increased in the last year, ranking among the top five problems in the Basque Country.
Low birth rates also feature among the main concerns of citizens (12%), with the majority (75%) considering it highly urgent to increase the number of births in the Basque Country. Furthermore, the majority of citizens (70%) believe it is very likely that the Major Blackout of 28 April will recur within the next six months. Additionally, 34% consider our energy dependence a significant threat to the region.
Failure of Spanish democracy
In relation to the quality of Spanish democracy, it once again failed and continued its downward trend (4.4) Most citizens have more confidence in Basque institutions than in Spanish ones. The government of Basque President Pradales fails to achieve a passing grade in the evaluation of its first year in office, scoring 4.7. Two out of three Basques believe that little or no change is coming from the policies of Íñigo Urkullu's government. Citizens believe that in this first year the Basque government's three priorities have been Health (26.3%), Self-government (25.9%) and the Basque language (25.3%).
In the international arena, Donald Trump's trade war has become the main threat to Europe (63.2%). Basque citizens believe that Trump’s policies will negatively affect their shopping basket (91%), the energy prices they pay (90%), and their workplace environment (66%). More data: the majority of Basque citizens (54%) consider Israel an adversary of the Basque Country. A higher percentage than those who consider Iran (35.8%) their enemy. Only 11.8% consider the US an ally.
Finally, respect for human rights (76%) and democracy (67%) are the values that garner the most consensus as shared ideals among all European citizens, surpassing free-market principles (37%), environmentalism (42%), feminism (33%), and Christianity (7.2%).
The Summer 2025 edition of this survey is now available on the website: deusto.es/barometrosocial.
