Spain

España

	Madrid
	46 404 602 (2014)
	505 370 km² 195 124 mi²
	3 718 m 12 198 ft Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands

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 War I and II but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). A peaceful transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco FRANCO in 1975, and rapid economic modernization (Spain joined the EU in 1986) gave Spain a dynamic and rapidly growing economy and made it a global champion of freedom and human rights. More recently the government has focused on measures to reverse a severe economic recession that began in mid-2008. Austerity measures implemented to reduce a large budget deficit and reassure foreign investors have led to one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. Spain assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2015-16 term.

temperate
clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast
cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast

Europe
Southern Europe

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

strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar
Spain controls a number of territories in northern Morocco including the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas

large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills
Pyrenees Mountains in north

Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands
3 718 m
12 198 ft

Atlantic Ocean
0 m
0 ft

Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands	Mount Everest

coal
lignite
iron ore
copper
lead
zinc
uranium
tungsten
mercury
pyrites
magnesite
fluorspar
gypsum
sepiolite
kaolin
potash
hydropower
arable land

Periodic droughts, occasional flooding

Volcanic activity in the Canary Islands, located off Africa's northwest coast; Teide (elev. 3,715 m) has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; La Palma (elev. 2,426 m), which last erupted in 1971, is the most active of the Canary Islands volcanoes; Lanzarote is the only other historically active volcano

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

505 370 km²
195 124 mi²


498 980 km² 192 657 mi²	6 390 km² 2 467 mi²


1.67 %	1.13 %	4.96 %	2.05 %	2.83 %	6.57 %	3.61 %	0.1 %

1953 km
1214 mi

Andorra 63 km/39 mi
France 646 km/401 mi
Gibraltar 1.2 km/7 mi
Portugal 1224 km/761 mi
Morocco 8 km/5 mi
Morocco 10.5 km/65 mi

4 964 km/3 084 mi

36.60 %

25.10 %

53.80 %

grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus
beef, pork, poultry, dairy products
fish

textiles and apparel (including footwear)
food and beverages
metals and metal manufactures
chemicals
shipbuilding
automobiles
machine tools
tourism
clay and refractory products
footwear
pharmaceuticals
medical equipment

46 404 602	-0.46%	50.9 %	49.1 %
	0-14 14.9 %	15-64 66.7 %	65+ 18.4 %
	91.82 / km² 237.82 / mi²	79.36% 36 824 372	21% 9 580 230
	79.50 yrs	85.50 Years	82.55 Years


4.18 %	1.05 %	6.25 %	8.78 %	11.98 %	123.04 %		0.63 %

Castilian Spanish (official) 74%
Catalan 17%
Galician 7%
And Basque 2%

Roman Catholic 94%
Other 6%

Composite of Mediterranean and Nordic types

Spain
España

Spain

Espagne

España

Spagna

スペイン

Parliamentary monarchy

Bicameral General Courts or Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado (257 seats as of 2013; 208 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and 49 appointed by the regional legislatures; members serve 4-year terms) and the Congress of Deputies or Congreso de los Diputados (350 seats; 348 members directly elected in 50 multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 2 directly elected from the North African Ceuta and Melilla enclaves by simple majority vote; members serve 4-year terms)

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 is quartered to display the emblems of the traditional kingdoms of Spain (clockwise from upper left, Castile, Leon, Navarre, and Aragon) while Granada is represented by the stylized pomegranate at the bottom of the shield; the arms are framed by two columns representing the Pillars of Hercules, which are the two promontories (Gibraltar and Ceuta) on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar; the red scroll across the two columns bears the imperial motto of "Plus Ultra" (further beyond) referring to Spanish lands beyond Europe; the triband arrangement with the center stripe twice the width of the outer dates to the 18th century	"Himno Nacional Espanol" (National Anthem of Spain)	Pillars of Hercules National colors: red, yellow
King FELIPE VI (since 19 June 2014) Heir Apparent Princess LEONOR daughter of the monarch, born 31 October 2005	1492 the Iberian peninsula was characterized by a variety of independent kingdoms prior to the Muslim occupation that began in the early 8th century A.D. and lasted nearly seven centuries the small Christian redoubts of the north began the reconquest almost immediately, culminating in the seizure of Granada in 1492 this event completed the unification of several kingdoms and is traditionally considered the forging of present-day Spain National Day, 12 October (1492); year when Columbus first set foot in the Americas	ADB (nonregional member), AfDB (nonregional member), Arctic Council (observer), Australia Group, BCIE, BIS, CAN (observer), CBSS (observer), CD, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECB, EIB, EITI (implementing country), EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, FATF, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAIA (observer), MIGA, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, Pacific Alliance (observer), Paris Club, PCA, PIF (partner), Schengen Convention, SELEC (observer), SICA (observer), UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, Union Latina, UNOCI, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Madrid 40 24 N, 3 41 W UTC+1 MADRID 6.199 million Barcelona 5.258 million Valencia 810,000

17 autonomous communities (comunidades autonomas, singular - comunidad autonoma) and 2 autonomous cities* (ciudades autonomas, singular - ciudad autonoma)
Andalucia

150 (2013)

Algeciras, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Huelva, Tarragona, Valencia (all in Spain); Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife (in the Canary Islands)

3.1
beds/1,000 population (2011)

4.95
physicians/1,000 population (2013)

Supreme Court or Tribunal Supremo (consists of the court president and organized into the Civil Room with a president and 9 magistrates, the Penal Room with a president and 14 magistrates, the Administrative Room with a president and 32 magistrates, the Social Room with a president and 12 magistrates, and the Military Room with a president and 7 magistrates); Constitutional Court or Tribunal Constitucional de Espana (consists of 12 judges)

18 years of age
universal

Spanish Armed Forces
Army (Ejercito de Tierra), Spanish Navy (Armada Espanola, AE; includes Marine Corps), Spanish Air Force (Ejercito del Aire Espanola, EdA) (2013)

After experiencing a prolonged recession in the wake of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, in 2014 Spain marked the first full year of positive economic growth in seven years, largely due to increased private consumption. At the onset of the global financial crisis Spain's GDP contracted by 3.7% in 2009, ending a 16-year growth trend, and continued contracting through most of 2013. In 2013 the government successfully shored up struggling banks - exposed to the collapse of Spain's depressed real estate and construction sectors - and in January 2014 completed an EU-funded restructuring and recapitalization program. ++ ++ Until 2014, credit contraction in the private sector, fiscal austerity, and high unemployment weighed on domestic consumption and investment. The unemployment rate rose from a low of about 8% in 2007 to more than 26% in 2013, but labor reforms prompted a modest reduction to 23.7% in 2014. High unemployment strained Spain's public finances, as spending on social benefits increased while tax revenues fell. SpainÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s budget deficit peaked at 11.4% of GDP in 2010, but Spain gradually reduced the deficit to just under 7% of GDP in 2013-14, slightly above the 6.5% target negotiated between Spain and the EU. Public debt has increased substantially Ã¢â‚¬â€œ from 60.1% of GDP in 2010 to more than 97% in 2014. ++ ++ Exports were resilient throughout the economic downturn and helped to bring Spain's current account into surplus in 2013 for the first time since 1986, where it remained in 2014. Rising labor productivity and an internal devaluation resulting from moderating labor costs and lower inflation have helped to improve foreign investor interest in the economy and positive FDI flows have been restored. ++ ++ The government's efforts to implement labor, pension, health, tax, and education reforms - aimed at supporting investor sentiment - have become overshadowed by political activity in 2015 in anticipation of the national parliamentary elections in November. SpainÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s 2015 budget, published in September 2014, rolls back some recently imposed taxes in advance of the elections and leaves untouched the countryÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s value-added tax (VAT) regime, which continues to generate significantly lower revenue than the EU average. SpainÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s borrowing costs are dramatically lower since their peak in mid-2012, and despite the recent uptic in economic activity, inflation has dropped sharply, from 1.5% in 2013 to nearly flat in 2014.

1 541 155 555 818.7
$USD

33 211.3
$USD

+1.36
%


machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semi-finished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, measuring and medical control instruments	Germany 13.4% France 11.9% Italy 6.2% China 6.1% Netherlands 4.8% UK 4.4%	machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods	France 16.2% Germany 10.7% Portugal 7.6% Italy 7.3% UK 7.1%

euros (EUR) per US dollar 0.7489 (2014 est.)		-0.2% (2014 est.)

683 175 km 424 505 mi	16 102 km 10 005 mi	1 000 km 621 mi (2012)
40 per 100 people country code - 34 submarine cables provide connectivity to Europe, Middle East, Asia, and US	107.85 / 100	76.19 / 100 .es

a mixture of both publicly operated and privately owned TV and radio stations
overall, hundreds of TV channels are available including national, regional, local, public, and international channels
satellite and cable TV systems available
multiple national radio networks, a large number of regional radio networks, and a larger number of local radio stations
overall, hundreds of radio stations (2008)