Better ratings for municipal management
The Survey on Municipal Services reflected an overall score of 6.2 (out of ten), up half a point compared to 2023 and with a general improvement in indicators linked to the City Council, the quality of municipal services and people’s level of satisfaction at living in Barcelona.The survey, conducted annually since 1989, stands out for the biggest increase since it began. Of those interviewed, 80.4% approved of the City Council’s management of municipal services.
Of the 26 municipal services analysed, all of them maintained or improved their scores, as is the case with services linked to the Pla Endreça: waste collection, urban planning of new streets and squares, street cleaning and the conservation of public space all improved by half a point compared to last year. Circulation made the grade with 5.3, while parking failed but managed to get a better score at 4.2.
The fire service (8.2), the city’s public libraries (8.0) and community centres (7.6) came out as the most highly rated services. These were followed by cultural activities and bus services (7.4), the tram, the metro and municipal markets (7.3).
Improved perception of Barcelona
Satisfaction at living in the city also improved, scoring 7.4 on average and rising to 7.8 if asked about satisfaction at living in the neighbourhood. The City Council again came out as the best rated administration, ahead of the Government of Catalonia (5.9) and the Spanish government (5.3).
The score for the perception and evolution of Barcelona over the last year also rose, with 28% of replies considering the city has improved, while 47.2% considered it has become worse. Even so, 52% believe the city will become better, while 32% believe it will become worse. As for people’s preferred place of residence, for the first time since the pandemic the percentage of people who would like to live away from Barcelona dropped, to 27%, with the number of people rising who would choose their neighbourhood if they were moving home.
Cleaning, housing and security
As for the most important issues in the city, cleaning, with better indicators, is regarded as the most important issue among 9.3% of those surveyed. Access to housing rated second (12.3%) with similar figures to the years of 2018 and 2019, slightly below safety, which topped the list of problems with 27.7% of replies. Tourism (5.4%) and climate change and environmental quality (5.3%) take on greater importance and represent the fourth and fifth most significant concerns among citizens.
You can find all the data in open format here.