| Spain |
Introduction Geography People Government Economy Communications Transportation Military Transnational Issues

Spain | Introduction | Top of Page

Background: | Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II, but suffered through a devastating Civil War (1936-39). In the second half of the 20th century, it has played a catch-up role in the western international community. Continuing concerns are large-scale unemployment and the Basque separatist movement.

Spain | Geography | Top of Page

Location: | Southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France

Geographic coordinates: | 40 00 N, 4 00 W

Map references: | Europe

Area: | total: 504,782 sq km land: 499,542 sq km water: 5,240 sq km note: includes Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, and five places of sovereignty (plazas de soberania) on and off the coast of Morocco - Ceuta, Melilla, 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: 1,917.8 km border countries: Andorra 63.7 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

Maritime claims: | contiguous zone: 24 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM (applies only to the Atlantic Ocean) territorial sea: 12 NM

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 de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands 3,718 m

Natural resources: | coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, mercury, pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, zinc, lead, tungsten, copper, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land

Land use: | arable land: 30% permanent crops: 9% permanent pastures: 21% forests and woodland: 32% other: 8% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: | 34,530 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: | periodic droughts

Environment - current issues: | pollution of the Mediterranean Sea from raw sewage and effluents from the offshore production of oil and gas; water quality and quantity nationwide; air pollution; deforestation; desertification

Environment - international agreements: | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification

Geography - note: | strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar

Spain | People | Top of Page

Population: | 40,037,995 (July 2001 est.)

Age structure: | 0-14 years: 14.62% (male 3,015,851; female 2,835,763) 15-64 years: 68.2% (male 13,701,065; female 13,605,314) 65 years and over: 17.18% (male 2,881,334; female 3,998,668) (2001 est.)

Population growth rate: | 0.1% (2001 est.)

Birth rate: | 9.26 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Death rate: | 9.13 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Net migration rate: | 0.87 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)

Sex ratio: | at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2001 est.)

Infant mortality rate: | 4.92 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: | total population: 78.93 years male: 75.47 years female: 82.62 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: | 1.15 children born/woman (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: | 0.58% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: | 120,000 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: | 2,000 (1999 est.)

Nationality: | noun: Spaniard(s) adjective: Spanish

Ethnic groups: | composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types

Religions: | Roman Catholic 99%, other 1%

Languages: | Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%

Literacy: | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 97% male: NA% female: NA%

Spain | Government | Top of Page

Country name: | conventional long form: Kingdom of Spain conventional short form: Spain local short form: Espana

Government type: | parliamentary monarchy

Capital: | Madrid

Administrative divisions: | 17 autonomous communities (comunidades autonomas, singular - comunidad autonoma); Andalucia, Aragon, Asturias, Baleares (Balearic Islands), Canarias (Canary Islands), Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Cataluna, Communidad Valencian, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra, Pais Vasco (Basque Country) note: there are five places of sovereignty on and off the coast of Morocco: Ceuta and Melilla are administered as autonomous communities; Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera are under direct Spanish administration

Independence: | 1492 (expulsion of the Moors and unification)

National holiday: | Hispanic Day, 12 October

Constitution: | 6 December 1978, effective 29 December 1978

Legal system: | civil law system, with regional applications; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: | 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: | chief of state: King JUAN CARLOS I (since 22 November 1975); Heir Apparent Prince FELIPE, son of the monarch, born 30 January 1968 head of government: President of the Government Jose Maria AZNAR Lopez (since 5 May 1996); First Vice President Juan Jose LUCAS (since 28 February 2000) and Second Vice President (and Minister of Economy) 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 monarch is hereditary; president proposed by the monarch and elected by the National Assembly following legislative elections; election last held 12 March 2000 (next to be held NA March 2004); vice presidents appointed by the monarch on proposal of the president election results: Jose Maria AZNAR Lopez (PP) elected president; percent of National Assembly vote - 44%

Legislative branch: | bicameral; General Courts or National Assembly or Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado (259 seats - 208 members directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 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 12 March 2000 (next to be held NA March 2004); Congress of Deputies - last held 12 March 2000 (next to be held NA March 2004) election results: Senate - percent of vote by party - NA%; seats by party - PP 127, PSOE 61, CiU 8, PNV 6, CC 5, PIL 1; Congress of Deputies - percent of vote by party - PP 44.5%, PSOE 34%, CiU 4.2%, IU 5.4%, PNV 1.5%, CC 1%, BNG 1.3%; seats by party - PP 183, PSOE 125, CiU 15, IU 8, PNV 7, CC 4, BNG 3, other 5

Judicial branch: | Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo

Political parties and leaders: | Basque Nationalist Party or PNV [Xabier ARZALLUS Antia]; Canarian Coalition or CC (a coalition of five parties) [Paulino RIVERO]; 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]); Galician Nationalist Bloc or BNG [Xose Manuel BEIRAS]; Party of Independents from Lanzarote or PIL [Dimas MARTIN Martin]; Popular Party or PP [Jose Maria AZNAR Lopez]; Spanish Socialist Workers Party or PSOE [Jose Luis Rodriguez ZAPATERO]; United Left or IU (a coalition of parties including the PCE and other small parties) [Gaspar LLAMAZARES]

Political pressure groups and leaders: | business and landowning interests; Catholic Church; Euskal Herritarok or EH [Herri BATASUNA]; free labor unions (authorized in April 1977); on the extreme left, the Basque Fatherland and Liberty or ETA and the First of October Antifascist Resistance Group or GRAPO use terrorism to oppose the government; Opus Dei; Socialist General Union of Workers or UGT and the smaller independent Workers Syndical Union or USO; university students; Workers Confederation or CC.OO

International organization participation: | AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNTAET, UNU, UPU, WCL, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Francisco Javier RUPEREZ chancery: 2375 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037 telephone: [1] (202) 452-0100, 728-2340 FAX: [1] (202) 833-5670 consulate(s) general: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, and San Juan (Puerto Rico)

Diplomatic representation from the US: | chief of mission: Ambassador Edward L. ROMERO embassy: Serrano 75, 28006 Madrid mailing address: APO AE 09642 telephone: [34] (91) 587-2200 FAX: [34] (91) 587-2303 consulate(s) general: Barcelona

Flag description: | three horizontal bands of red (top), yellow (double width), and red with the national coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band; the coat of arms includes the royal seal framed by the Pillars of Hercules, which are the two promontories (Gibraltar and Ceuta) on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar

Spain | Economy | Top of Page

Economy - overview: | Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is 80% that of the four leading West European economies. Its center-right government successfully worked to gain admission to the first group of countries launching the European single currency on 1 January 1999. The AZNAR administration has continued to advocate liberalization, privatization, and deregulation of the economy and has introduced some tax reforms to that end. Unemployment has been steadily falling under the AZNAR administration but remains the highest in the EU at 14%. The government intends to make further progress in changing labor laws and reforming pension schemes, which are key to the sustainability of both Spain's internal economic advances and its competitiveness in a single currency area. Adjusting to the monetary and other economic policies of an integrated Europe - and further reducing unemployment - will pose challenges to Spain in the next few years.

GDP: | purchasing power parity - $720.8 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: | 4% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: | purchasing power parity - $18,000 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: | agriculture: 4% industry: 31% services: 65% (1999)

Population below poverty line: | NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share: | lowest 10%: 2.8% highest 10%: 25.2% (1990)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 3.4% (2000 est.)

Labor force: | 17 million (2000)

Labor force - by occupation: | services 64%, manufacturing, mining, and construction 28%, agriculture 8% (1997 est.)

Unemployment rate: | 14% (2000 est.)

Budget: | revenues: $105 billion expenditures: $109 billion, including capital expenditures of $12.8 billion (2000 est.)

Industries: | textiles and apparel (including footwear), food and beverages, metals and metal manufactures, chemicals, shipbuilding, automobiles, machine tools, tourism

Industrial production growth rate: | 4.5% (2000 est.)

Electricity - production: | 197.694 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: | fossil fuel: 57.71% hydro: 12.1% nuclear: 28.28% other: 1.91% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: | 189.57 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: | 6.23 billion kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: | 11.945 billion kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: | grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus; beef, pork, poultry, dairy products; fish

Exports: | $120.5 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Exports - commodities: | machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, other consumer goods

Exports - partners: | EU 71% (France 20%, Germany 12%, Italy 9%, Portugal 9%, UK 8%), Latin America 6%, US 5% (2000)

Imports: | $153.9 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)

Imports - commodities: | machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semifinished goods; foodstuffs, consumer goods (1997)

Imports - partners: | EU 68% (France 18%, Germany 16%, Italy 9%, UK 7%, Benelux 8%), US 8%, OPEC 5%, Latin America 4%, Japan 3% (1999)

Debt - external: | $90 billion (1993 est.)

Economic aid - donor: | ODA, $1.3 billion (1995)

Currency: | Spanish peseta (ESP); euro (EUR) note: on 1 January 1999, the EU introduced the euro as a common currency that is now being used by financial institutions in Spain at a fixed rate of 166.386 Spanish pesetas per euro and will replace the local currency for all transactions in 2002

Currency code: | ESP; EUR

Exchange rates: | euros per US dollar - 1.0659 (January 2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); pesetas per US dollar - 149.40 (1998), 146.41 (1997), 126.66 (1996)

Fiscal year: | calendar year

Spain | Communications | Top of Page

Telephones - main lines in use: | 17.336 million (1999)

Telephones - mobile cellular: | 8.394 million (1999)

Telephone system: | general assessment: generally adequate, modern facilities; teledensity is 44 main lines for each 100 persons domestic: NA international: 22 coaxial submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to adjacent countries

Radio broadcast stations: | AM 208, FM 715, shortwave 1 (1998)

Radios: | 13.1 million (1997)

Television broadcast stations: | 224 (plus 2,105 repeaters) note: these figures include 11 television broadcast stations and 88 repeaters in the Canary Islands (1995)

Televisions: | 16.2 million (1997)

Internet country code: | .es

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): | 56 (2000)

Internet users: | 4.6 million (2000)

Spain | Transportation | Top of Page

Railways: | total: 13,950 km broad gauge: 12,781 km 1.668-m gauge (6,358 km electrified; 2,295 km double track) standard gauge: 525 km 1.435-m gauge (525 km electrified) narrow gauge: 644 km 1.000-m gauge (438 km electrified) (1998)

Highways: | total: 346,858 km paved: 343,389 km (including 9,063 km of expressways) unpaved: 3,469 km (1997)

Waterways: | 1,045 km (of minor economic importance)

Pipelines: | crude oil 265 km; petroleum products 1,794 km; natural gas 1,666 km

Ports and harbors: | Aviles, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cadiz, Cartagena, Castellon de la Plana, Ceuta, Huelva, La Coruna, Las Palmas (Canary Islands), Malaga, Melilla, Pasajes, Gijon, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands), Santander, Tarragona, Valencia, Vigo

Merchant marine: | total: 135 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,208,730 GRT/1,773,378 DWT ships by type: bulk 10, cargo 26, chemical tanker 10, container 9, liquefied gas 2, livestock carrier 1, passenger 1, petroleum tanker 24, refrigerated cargo 5, roll on/roll off 35, short-sea passenger 8, specialized tanker 1, vehicle carrier 3 (2000 est.)

Airports: | 110 (2000 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: | total: 75 over 3,047 m: 15 2,438 to 3,047 m: 10 1,524 to 2,437 m: 18 914 to 1,523 m: 19 under 914 m: 13 (2000 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: | total: 35 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 9 under 914 m: 25 (2000 est.)

Heliports: | 2 (2000 est.)

Spain | Military | Top of Page

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: 10,551,945 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: | males age 15-49: 8,448,150 (2001 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: | males: 281,043 (2001 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: | $6 billion (FY97)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: | 1.1% (FY97)

Spain | Transnational Issues | Top of Page

Disputes - international: | Gibraltar issue 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 Penon de Alhucemas, Penon 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