SPAIN
FACTS AND FIGURES

Geography - People - Government - Economy -
Transportation - Military - Transnational Issues

Geography

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  • Area: total: 504,750 sq. km; land: 499,400 sq. km; water: 5,350 sq. km; note: includes Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, and five places of sovereignty (plazas de soberania) on and off the coast of Morocco—Ceuta, Mellila, Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera 
  • Area—comparative: slightly more than twice the size of Oregon 
  • Land boundaries: total: 1,919.1 km; border countries: Andorra 65 km, France 623 km, Gibraltar 1.2 km, Portugal 1,214 km, Morocco (Ceuta) 6.3 km, Morocco (Melilla) 9.6 km 
  • Coastline: 4,964 km 
  • Climate: temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast 
  • Terrain: large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills; Pyrenees in north 
  • Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m; highest point: Pico del Teide on Canary Islands 3,718 m 
  • Natural resources: coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, mercury, pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, zinc, lead, tungsten, copper, kaolin, potash, hydropower 
People

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  • Population: 39,133,996 (July 1998 est.) 
  • Population density: 78 people per sq. km (1988)
  • Population growth rate: 0.08% (1998 est.) 
  • Birth rate: 9.73 births/1,000 population (1998 est.) 
  • Death rate: 9.62 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.) 
  • Life expectancy at birth: total population: 77.56 years; male: 73.78 years; female: 81.59 years (1998 est.) 
  • Ethnic groups: composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types 
  • Religions: Roman Catholic 99%, other 1% 
  • Languages: Castilian Spanish 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% 
Government

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  • Country name:
    • conventional long form: Kingdom of Spain 
    • conventional short form: Spain 
    • local short form: España 
  • Government type: parliamentary monarchy 
  • National capital: Madrid 
  • Administrative divisions: 17 autonomous communities (comunidades autónomas, singular—comunidad autonoma); Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Canarias, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Communidad Valenciana, Extremadura, Galicia, Islas Baleares, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, País Vasco (Basque Country); note: there are five places of sovereignty on and off the coast of Morocco (Ceuta, Mellila, Islas Chafarinas, Peñón de Alhucemas, and Peñón de Velez de la Gomera) with administrative status unknown 
  • Independence: 1492 (expulsion of the Moors and unification) 
  • National holiday: National Day, 12 October 
  • Constitution: 6 December 1978, effective 29 December 1978 
  • Executive branch:
    • chief of state: King JUAN CARLOS I (since 22 November 1975); Heir Apparent Prince FELIPE, son of the king 
    • head of government: President of the Government Jose Maria AZNAR Lopez (since 5 May 1996); First Vice President Francisco ALVAREZ CASCOS Fernandez (since 5 May 1996) and Second Vice President (and Minister of Economy and Finance) Rodrigo RATO Figaredo (since 5 May 1996)
    • cabinet: Council of Ministers designated by the president
    • note: there is also a Council of State that is the supreme consultative organ of the government
    • elections: the king is a hereditary monarch; president proposed by the king and elected by the National Assembly following legislative elections; election last held 3 March 1996 (next to be held by NA March 2000)
    • election results: Jose Maria AZNAR elected president; percent of National Assembly vote - NA 
  • Legislative branch: bicameral The General Courts or National Assembly or Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado (256 seats; 208 members are directly elected by popular vote and the other 48 were appointed by the regional legislatures to serve four-year terms) and the Congress of Deputies or Congreso de los Diputados (350 seats; members are elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms)
    • elections: Senate—last held 3 March 1996 (next to be held by March 2000); Congress of Deputies—last held 3 March 1996 (next to be held by March 2000)
    • election results: Senate—percent of vote by party—NA; seats by party—PP 132, PSOE 96, CiU 11, PNV 6, IU 2, others 9; Congress of Deputies—percent of vote by party—PP 38.9%, PSOE 37.5%, IU 10.7%, CiU 4.6%; seats by party—PP 156, PSOE 141, IU 21, CiU 16, other 16 
  • Political parties and leaders: principal national parties, from right to left: 
    • Popular Party or PP [Jose Maria AZNAR Lopez]; 
    • Spanish Socialist Workers Party or PSOE [Joaquin ALMUNIA Amann, secretary general]; 
    • Spanish Communist Party or PCE [Julio ANGUITA Gonzalez]; 
    • United Left or IU (a coalition of parties including the PCE and other small parties) [Julio ANGUITA Gonzalez]
    • chief regional parties: 
      • Convergence and Union or CiU [Jordi PUJOL i Soley, secretary general] (a coalition of the Democratic Convergence of Catalonia or CDC [Jordi PUJOL i Soley] and the Democratic Union of Catalonia or UDC [Josep Antoni DURAN y LLEIDA]); 
      • Basque Nationalist Party or PNV [Xabier ARZALLUS Antia]; 
      • Canarian Coalition or CC (a coalition of five parties) [Lorenzo OLLARTE Cullen] 
  • Political pressure groups and leaders: on the extreme left, the Basque Fatherland and Liberty or ETA [Herri BATASUNA] and the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group or GRAPO use terrorism to oppose the government; free labor unions (authorized in April 1977); Workers Confederation or CC.OO; the Socialist General Union of Workers or UGT and the smaller independent Workers Syndical Union or USO; business and landowning interests; the Catholic Church; Opus Dei; university students 
  • International organization participation: CE, EU, IBRD, IMF, NAM (guest), NATO, OECD, OSCE, UN, WTO 
Economy

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  • Economy—overview: Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is three-fourths that of the four leading West European economies. Its center-right government has staked much on gaining admission to the first group of countries to implement the European single currency and, based on economic indicators, Madrid appears poised to be in EMU from the outset. The deficit-to-GDP ratio is 2.3%, the debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to be around 68%, and inflation is approximately 2%. Moreover, the Aznar administration has continued to advocate liberalization, privatization, and deregulation of the economy, and has introduced some tax reforms to that end. Unemployment, nonetheless, remains the highest in the EU at 21%. The government, for political reasons, has made only limited progress in changing labor laws or reforming pension schemes, which are key to the sustainability of both Spain's internal economic advances and its competitiveness in a single currency area. 
  • GDP: purchasing power parity—$642.4 billion (1997 est.) 
  • GDP—real growth rate: 3.3% (1997 est.) 
  • GDP—per capita: purchasing power parity—$16,400 (1997 est.) 
  • GDP—composition by sector: agriculture: 3.6%; industry: 33.6%; services: 62.8% (1995 est.) 
  • Inflation rate—consumer price index: 2.1% (1997 est.) 
  • Labor force: total: 16.2 million; by occupation: services 64%, manufacturing, mining, and construction 28%, agriculture 8% (1997 est.)
  • Unemployment rate: 21% (1997 est.) 
  • Budget: revenues: $113 billion; expenditures: $139 billion, including capital expenditures of $15 billion (1995) 
  • Industries: textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufactures, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism 
  • Agriculture—products: grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish catch of 867,000 metric tons in 1993 
  • Exports:
    • total value: $94.5 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
    • commodities: cars and trucks, semifinished manufactured goods, foodstuffs, machinery (1994)
    • partners: EU 72.1%, US 4.2%, other developed countries 7.9% (1996) 
  • Imports:
    • total value: $118.3 billion (c.i.f., 1995)
    • commodities: machinery, transport equipment, fuels, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, chemicals (1994)
    • partners: EU 65.6%, US 6.6%, other developed countries 11.5%, Middle East 6.2% (1996) 
  • Debt—external: $90 billion (1993 est.) 
  • Economic aid: donor: ODA, $1.213 billion (1993) 
  • Currency: 1 peseta (Pta) = 100 centimos 
  • Exchange rates: pesetas (Ptas) per US$1—153.94 (January 1998), 146.41 (1997), 126.66 (1996), 124.69 (1995), 133.96 (1994), 127.26 (1993) 
Transportation

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  • Railways: total: 15,172 km (1996) 
  • Highways: total: 344,847 km; paved: 341,399 km (including 7,747 km of expressways) (1996 est.) 
  • Waterways: 1,045 km, but of minor economic importance 
  • Pipelines: crude oil 265 km; petroleum products 1,794 km; natural gas 1,666 km 
  • Ports and harbors: Avilés, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cádiz, Cartagena, Castellón de la Plana, Ceuta, Huelva, La Coruña, Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Málaga, Melilla, Pasajes, Gijón, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands), Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Vigo 
  • Merchant marine: total: 135 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,043,747 GRT/1,651,634 DWT (1997 est.) 
  • Airports: 98 (1997 est.) 
  • Airports—with paved runways: total: 64 (1997 est.) 
Military

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  • Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Civil Guard, National Police, Coastal Civil Guard 
  • Military manpower—military age: 20 years of age 
  • Military manpower—availability: males age 15-49: 10,387,539 (1998 est.) 
  • Military manpower—fit for military service: males: 8,369,756 (1998 est.) 
  • Military manpower—reaching military age annually: males: 323,552 (1998 est.) 
  • Military expenditures—dollar figure: $6.3 billion (1995) 
  • Military expenditures—percent of GDP: 1.4% (1995) 
Transnational Issues

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  • Disputes—international: Gibraltar question with UK; Spain controls five places of sovereignty (plazas de soberania) on and off the coast of Morocco—the coastal enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, which Morocco contests, as well as the islands of Peñón de Alhucemas, Peñón de Velez de la Gomera, and Islas Chafarinas 
  • Illicit drugs: key European gateway country for Latin American cocaine and North African hashish entering the European market; transshipment point for and consumer of Southwest Asian heroin

Adapted from CIA World Factbook 1998