Spain

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Spain (disambiguation) .

Reino de España
Kingdom of Spain
flag coat of arms
Motto : Plus Ultra ( Latin for Beyond )
Official language	Spanish 1
capital city	Madrid
State and form of government	parliamentary monarchy
Head of state	King Felipe VI.
Head of government	District President Pedro Sánchez
surface	505,970 km²
population	47.1 million ( 30th ) (2019; estimate)
Population density	94 inhabitants per km²
Population development	+ 0.6% (estimate for 2019)
gross domestic product Total (nominal) Total ( PPP ) GDP / inh. (nom.) GDP / inh. (KKP)	2020 $ 1.3 trillion ( 8. ) $ 1.8 trillion ( 15. ) 27,132 USD ( 32. ) 38,392 USD ( 34. )
Human Development Index	0.904 ( 25th ) (2019)
currency	Euro (EUR)
National anthem	Marcha Real
Time zone	UTC + 1 CET UTC + 2 CEST (March to October) Canary Islands : UTC ± 0 UTC + 1 (March to October)
License Plate	E.
ISO 3166	ES , ESP, 724
Internet TLD	.it
Phone code	+34
1The regional official languages ​​also include Aragonese , Aranese , Asturian , Basque , Galician and Catalan .

Spain ( Spanish España ^{? / I} [ esˈpaɲa ], officially Kingdom of Spain , Spanish Reino de España [ ˈrejno ð (e) esˈpaɲa ]) is a state on the Iberian Peninsula in southwest Europe , with the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the Canary Islands in Atlantic and two exclaves in North Africa .

The form of government is a parliamentary hereditary monarchy . Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities ( Spanish ciudades autónomas ), Ceuta and Melilla . The capital and largest metropolis is Madrid , other metropolitan areas are Barcelona , Valencia , Seville , Bilbao , Zaragoza and Málaga .

Spain is a member of the UN , the EU , the OECD and NATO . It is one of the very highly developed countries and one of the 20 largest export and import nations (2017). Spain is the second most visited country in the world after France and also after France the second largest country in the EU in terms of area.

geography

National territory

Madrid Seville Málaga Alicante Cordoba Vigo Zaragoza Oviedo Palma Vitoria-Gasteiz Merida Santiago de Compostela Santander Bilbao Toledo Valladolid Barcelona Logroño Murcia Pamplona Valencia Mulhacén Aneto PORTUGAL FRANCE ANDORRA ALGERIA MOROCCO ATLANTIC MEDITERRANEAN SEA ALBORAN SEA BALEARIC SEA Bay of Biscay Strait of Gibraltar Ibiza Menorca Mallorca

Spain is located, as well as Portugal (in the West) and the United Kingdom belonging Gibraltar (south), on the Iberian Peninsula ° W between 36 ° and 43.5 ° north latitude and 9 and 3 ° east longitude (without Balearic Islands, Canaries, Ceuta and Melilla). Spain occupies almost six seventh of the Iberian Peninsula. In the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range , Spain borders France and the small state of Andorra .

In addition, in part Mediterranean situated Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and situated on the North African coastal cities of Ceuta and Melilla to the territory. In France, Spain owns the exclave Llívia . Spain also includes several islands immediately off the Moroccan coast: Islas Chafarinas , Peñón de Alhucemas , Isla del Perejil , and the Peninsula de Vélez de la Gomera . The Isla de Alborán is located 50 kilometers north of the Moroccan coast. Another group of small islands and rocks, the Islas Columbretes , is located about 55 kilometers east of Castellón de la Plana , on the same latitude as Mallorca .

The northernmost point of Spain is the Estaca de Bares in Galicia , on the mainland the westernmost point is the Cabo Touriñán (also in Galicia), the southernmost the Punta Marroquí near Tarifa and the easternmost the Cap de Creus on the Costa Brava . The largest extension from north to south is 856 kilometers and from east to west 1020 kilometers. The westernmost ( Punta de la Orchilla ) and the southernmost ( La Restinga ) point of Spain are on the Canary Island of El Hierro , the easternmost on the Balearic island of Menorca .

With an average height of approx. 660  msnm, the national territory has one of the highest values ​​in Europe. The spatial structure of the peninsula is essentially determined by six large mountain systems.

Mountain systems

Teide , highest mountain on Spanish territory

Of the six major mountain systems , five run in a west-east direction.

• In the north it is the Pyrenees (up to 3404 meters) that form the boundary to the rest of mainland Europe.
• To the west of the Pyrenees are the Cantabrian Mountains , which run parallel to the north coast , with the highest elevations in the Picos de Europa at 2,600 meters. At its western end in Galicia and northern Portugal it fans out into a large number of low mountain ranges.
• The Castilian Scheidegebirge , which is divided into different blocks and has heights of up to 2600 meters, also runs in a west-east direction roughly in the middle of the peninsula . In Portugal it continues with the Serra da Estrela .
• Further south, the lower Sierra Morena (up to 1300 meters), also running from west to east, separates the central highlands from the Guadalquivir valley .
• In the extreme south, the Betic Cordillera runs along the Mediterranean coast from Gibraltar to south of Valencia . The Balearic Islands are geologically their northeastern continuation. On the Betic Cordillera is the Mulhacén (3482 meters) in the Sierra Nevada, the highest point on mainland Spain and the Iberian Peninsula. The highest mountain on Spanish territory , however, is the Pico del Teide on the Canary Island of Tenerife, at 3715 meters .

The Iberian foothills with heights of up to 2300 meters, however, runs from northwest to southeast about east of a line Burgos-Valencia.

Rivers

→ Main article : River systems in Spain

The five major river systems run between the mountain ranges, four of which are east-west oriented, flow into the Atlantic and have their origins in the Iberian Mountains, the great watershed of the peninsula. The basin between the Cantabrian Mountains and the Castilian Scheidegebirge is drained by the Duero . Further south, the Tagus and Guadiana also run from east to west. The same applies to the Guadalquivir south of the Sierra Morena.

The depression between the Iberian Mountains and the Pyrenees, on the other hand, is drained by the Ebro to the Mediterranean Sea. This river has its source in the Cantabrian Mountains and runs from northwest to southeast.

Central plateau

In the center of the Iberian Peninsula there is an extensive high plateau, which, depending on the source, is called Iberian Meseta or the highlands of Castile , but is often simply called Meseta . It is bordered in the north and northwest by the Cantabrian Mountains and their foothills, in the east by the Iberian Mountains and in the south by the Sierra Morena. In the southwest it merges into the somewhat lower, but not so flat, Extremadura . It is divided into two halves (the north and south meseta) by the Castilian Scheidegebirge, with the north being slightly higher on average than the south. The big cities of the north meseta ( Valladolid , León , Burgos , Salamanca ) are at an altitude of 700 to 900 meters, those of the south meseta ( Madrid , Toledo , Ciudad Real ) at 500 to 700 meters.

Coastal plains and depressions

The depressions through which the Guadalquivir and the Ebro flow are much deeper. Since the mountains almost everywhere come close to the sea, there are hardly any more extensive coastal plains.

climate

Cantabrian Mountains

Mediterranean coastline on the Costa Brava

The climate in Spain can be roughly divided into the following zones.

• Atlantic climate on the north Atlantic coast: Galicia , Asturias , Cantabria , Basque Country , Navarra (north).
  Especially in winter rainfall, very mild winter and summer (see climate diagram of Santander ).
• Oceanic-continental climate in the center of the Iberian Peninsula: Castile and León , Madrid , La Rioja , Navarra, Castile-La Mancha , Extremadura and Andalusia .
  Very cold winters with regular snowfalls in the north and hot summers, mainly winter rainfall.
• Continental Mediterranean climate in Aragón , Catalonia , Valencia (hinterland), Murcia , Castile-La Mancha and Andalusia.
  Rainfall especially in spring and autumn. Hot summers and cold winters; the daily temperature fluctuations can amount to 25 ° C.
• Mediterranean climate in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands , Valencia , Murcia and Andalusia.
  Precipitation falls mainly in spring and autumn, sometimes like torrential rain (first week of September). Due to the decreasing amount of precipitation from north to south ( Barcelona 640 mm, Tortosa 524 mm, Valencia 454 mm, Alicante 336 mm, Almería 196 mm), the Mediterranean climate can be divided into a wet and a dry one. The temperatures are mild in winter, in summer it is hot, sometimes hot and humid.
• Subtropical climate in the Canaries .
  Mild temperatures (18 to 24 ° C) almost all year round, there is hardly any winter (average temperatures in Santa Cruz de Tenerife : 17.9 ° C in January and 25.1 ° C in August). The rainfall in the Canaries varies greatly in the individual regions of the islands.
• Mountain climate in the high altitudes of the Pyrenees , the Cantabrian and Iberian Mountains , the Castilian Scheidegebirge and the Betic Cordillera .
  Long, cold winters and short, crisp summers.

Climate diagrams
Mediterranean coast
Mediterranean climate in Barcelona	Mediterranean climate in Valencia	Mediterranean climate in Ibiza (Balearic Islands)	Mediterranean climate in Málaga
Central Spain	North coast	Canary Islands
Oceanic-continental climate in Madrid	Atlantic climate in Santander	Subtropical climate in Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The recently accelerated climate change has exacerbated the existing environmental problems in the entire Mediterranean area, including in Spain. For five broad and interconnected areas of impact (water, ecosystems, nutrition, health and safety), current changes and future scenarios consistently point to substantial and increasing risks in the coming decades. This is particularly evident in Spain. The British climate economist Nicholas Stern sums up the situation for Spain in the context of the climate crisis as follows: “If the temperature rises above the limits that we set in the Paris Agreement , then there is a clear risk that Spain will find itself in the Sahara desert will transform. ”Model calculations from 2019 show that the climate in Madrid in 2050 will be more similar to the current climate in Marrakech, Morocco than it is today in Madrid. Tourism is also threatened due to the rise in sea levels ; for example, the 6,000 km long coastal strip is becoming narrower due to erosion and beaches could be permanently flooded as a result.

flora

Olive groves in the mountains of Andalusia

The vegetation of the Iberian Peninsula is divided into three major areas:

• Vegetation of humid Spain: oaks , beeches
• Vegetation of arid Spain: evergreen oaks ( holm oaks , cork oaks ), pines and palms
• Vegetation of the mountains depending on the altitude: holm oaks, cork oaks, oaks, sweet chestnuts , meadows , alpine grasslands

Intensive cultivation of crops requires irrigation . However, large areas are also taken up by cultivated plants that benefit from the dry climate, such as olive trees and fig bushes .

fauna

Iberian wolf ( Canis lupus signatus )

The Spanish wildlife is extremely rich in species. Due to the relatively sparse population, animal species survived in Spain that were exterminated in the rest of Western Europe. In addition, due to the delimitation of the Iberian Peninsula by the Pyrenees, some endemic species were formed.

A total of around 2500 wolves live in north-west and central Spain and in isolated cases in the Sierra Morena . The Iberian wolf ( Canis lupus signatus ) thus forms the largest and most stable population in Western Europe. About 200 brown bears live in the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees. While the Cantabrian bear population is considered stable, those native to the Pyrenees are in acute danger of extinction. The Iberian lynx is only in Spain and Portugal -based Luchsart , with about 550 wild animals, it is in the present, despite successful protection measures are still at risk. Some of the last Western European populations of the European mink are found in northern Spain . Other characteristic mammals of Spain are the small-spotted genet , which is otherwise only native to Africa and the Near East , the ichneumon , the Iberian ibex or the Pyrenean chamois . Three types of hare are native to Spain, the brown hare and the endemic Iberian hare and Castroviejo hare . Deer, roe deer, squirrels, rabbits , wild boars, martens, badgers and foxes are common. Mouflons and marmots can be found in mountainous areas, wildcats in larger forests and otters in river areas.

In the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian Mountains are bearded vulture home, monks , geese and Egyptian vultures can be found in the country in many areas. Other characteristic large birds are the Spanish imperial eagle or the golden eagle . Flamingos can be found in wetlands like Coto de Doñana .

The reptile fauna of Spain includes numerous lizards, geckos, skinks, creeps, snakes, land and sea turtles, such as the loggerhead turtle . Characteristic lizard species are, for example, the Canary Islands lizards , especially the El Hierro giant lizard ( Gallotia simonyi ), which can reach a body length of up to 75 cm, and the pearl lizard , the largest lizard species in Europe.

population

See also : Demography of Spain

Population development

Population development in millions of inhabitants

Population pyramid of Spain 2016

Population density in Spain 2018

Between 1999 and 2009 the population of Spain increased very strongly, both compared to other European countries and compared to the decades before. Spain's population increased by 1.1 million in the 1990s and by 7 million in the first decade of the 21st century. Much of the population growth was due to immigration. The foreign population rose from 0.74 million in 1999 to 5.73 million in 2011. It should be noted that there were also naturalizations. The fertility rate in Spain in 2016 was around 1.34 children per woman, below the EU average of 1.60. In 2016, the median age in Spain was 43.1 years.

year	Thousand inhabitants	year	Thousand inhabitants	year	Thousand inhabitants	year	Thousand inhabitants	year	Thousand inhabitants
1999	40.202	2004	43,197	2009	46,745	2014	46,771	2019	47,100
2000	40,499	2005	44,108	2010	47.021	2015	46,624
2001	41,116	2006	44,708	2011	47,190	2016	46,557
2002	41,837	2007	45,200	2012	47,265	2017	46,572
2003	42,717	2008	46.157	2013	47.129	2018	46,722

Life expectancy

The average life expectancy of the Spaniards was determined to be 82.5 years in 2012 and thus reached the highest value in the European Union, ahead of Italy (82.4) and France (82.1). The average life expectancy of men was 79.5 years, that of women 85.5 years. In 2007, 16.7 percent of the population was over 65 years of age. Due to the high life expectancy combined with low fertility, it is assumed that Spain will become one of the oldest societies in the world in the future.

Development of life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy in years	Period	Life expectancy in years
1950-1955	64.6	1985-1990	76.9
1955-1960	67.8	1990-1995	77.6
1960-1965	69.9	1995-2000	78.8
1965-1970	71.4	2000-2005	79.9
1970-1975	72.7	2005-2010	81.2
1975-1980	74.4	2010-2015	82.5
1980-1985	76.1

Source: UN

languages

→ Main article : Languages ​​in Spain

Languages ​​in Spain:

only Castilian Catalan Basque Galician   

Asturleonese Aragonese Aranese  

Spread of languages ​​on the Iberian Peninsula from the 13th to the 21st century:

only Castilian Catalan Aragonese Basque   

Asturleonese Galician-Portuguese Arabic  

Spanish , Catalan , Galician and Basque are predominantly spoken in Spain . Spanish is the official language throughout the national territory . Catalan is an official language in the autonomous communities of Catalonia , Valencia (called Valencian there ) and in the Balearic Islands , Basque in the Basque Country and parts of Navarre and Galician in Galicia alongside Spanish (lenguas co-oficiales) . In Val d'Aran has Aranese , a variety of the Gascon , official status.

The country name Kingdom of Spain in the regional languages ​​is Galician Reino de España , Catalan Regne d'Espanya , Asturian Reinu d'España , Basque Espainiako Erresuma , Aranese Reialme d'Espanha and Aragonese Reino d'Espanya .

In addition, there are some languages ​​that are only spoken by a small number of people and do not have the status of an official language. These include Asturleonese and Aragonese . In the Jálama Valley ( province of Cáceres ) near the Portuguese border, A Fala , a dialect of the Galician-Portuguese language , is spoken. In Melilla, the Masirian minority also speaks Tamazight .

During the holiday season, seasonal workers from Germany and Poland also work in the tourist regions, often also from South America. In some tourist regions such as the Costa Blanca or the Costa del Sol , a comparatively large number of Germans and English are permanently resident.

English and French are mostly spoken as foreign languages . Younger Spaniards mostly speak English as a foreign language, while older people speak French. Applicable foreign language skills are still not the rule among the general population. According to a survey carried out by Eurostat in 2011, 49% of adult Spaniards (between the ages of 25 and 64) do not speak a foreign language according to their self-assessment. In contrast, in 2011 the proportion of primary school students learning a foreign language, usually English, was already 99% and in upper secondary school 97%, with 22% also learning a second foreign language due to the geographical proximity to France mostly French. In areas that tourists like to visit, especially on the Mediterranean and the Balearic Islands, English and German are sometimes used .

In Catalonia , most schools and universities teach in Catalan , but Spanish can be used there by all students in classes and exams.

Minorities

The minorities in the country include the “ Gitanos ” (Spanish Roma ) who immigrated to Spain around the 16th century. Today there are around 600,000 to 800,000 Gitanos in Spain. The Spanish Roma are mainly at home in large cities such as Madrid , Barcelona , Valencia or Seville . They produced some world-famous stars, such as the singer Camarón de la Isla or the football player José Antonio Reyes . There are many Roma in the Spanish music scene, especially in flamenco .

immigrant

Largest migrant groups without Spanish citizenship (over 100,000 people)

rank	Country	Population (January 1, 2019)
1.	Morocco	776.425
2.	Romania	583,795
3.	Colombia	461,592
4th	Ecuador	414.283
5.	Venezuela	344,779
6th	United Kingdom	298.140
7th	Argentina	283.284
8th.	Peru	228.125
9.	France	213,950
10.	Germany	192.622
11.	People's Republic of China	173.291
12th	Bolivia	155.051
13th	Italy	152.851
14th	Bulgaria	114,564
15th	Cuba	108,686
16.	Ukraine	103,950
17th	Portugal	103,467

For a long time Spain had only low immigration figures. It was not until the late 1980s that Spain became the main destination for Latin American emigration. This has led to a surge in immigration and a population increase of over five million people. In 2007 there were almost 1.8 million people with a Latin American migration background in Spain (Tedesco, 2008: 3). The number of foreigners living in Spain is around 5 million (January 2019), which corresponds to twelve percent of the total population; 2 million of them are citizens of other EU countries. Compared with the rest of the EU, Spain ranks second behind Germany (7.1 million) in absolute terms. Looking at the proportion of citizens of other countries, Spain ranks fifth behind Luxembourg (43.0%), Latvia (17.4%), Cyprus and Estonia (both 15.9%). Spain's foreigner quota of 12.3% is the highest among the member states with more than three million inhabitants, followed by Austria (10.5%), Belgium (9.7%) and Germany (8.7%). Most immigrants come from Romania, the Maghreb or Latin America , as well as the United Kingdom and Germany, for whom Spain is a popular retirement home. In the period from 2003 to 2017, a total of 1,446,315 people acquired Spanish citizenship.

Spaniards abroad

Spaniards abroad (only countries with over 50,000 people)

country	Number (Jan. 2020)
Argentina	473,519
France	273.290
United States	167.426
Germany	167.151
United Kingdom	152.291
Cuba	147.617
Mexico	144,553
Venezuela	142,302
Brazil	133,188
Switzerland	124.414
Uruguay	67,414
Belgium	67,960
Chile	66,399
Ecuador	58,646

The number of Spanish citizens living abroad is around 2.6 million (January 2020), 1,576,350 of them in America and 945,027 in Europe . While only 20.6 percent of Spaniards living in America were born in Spain, this percentage is 49.7 percent for those living in another European country. One of the reasons for this is that the larger waves of emigration from the mid-19th century to the Spanish Civil War mostly targeted South and Central America, particularly Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Uruguay and Cuba, while the Plan de Estabilización (1959) was one Until 1972 there was a wave of emigration to European countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the United Kingdom. In addition, many immigrants from South American countries who had since acquired Spanish citizenship left Spain in the course of the euro crisis and returned to their home countries.

Religions and worldviews

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela : destination of pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago

Although 92 percent of the population (as of 2000) officially belonged to the Roman Catholic Church , the number of those who actively participate in religious life is falling. As part of a study by the state polling institute Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas in 2015, 68 percent of those surveyed said they were Catholics. The Catholic Church is financed by the Spanish state on the basis of a contract with the Holy See and not from directly paid church taxes by its members, which is why leaving the church does not bring any financial benefits. Since 2007, however, taxpayers have to decide for themselves whether 0.7% of wage or income tax should go to church or other social or cultural purposes. If you do not make a decision, this mandatory tax amount will be forwarded directly to the other purposes. The direct state funding that had existed since 1979 has been completely abolished. Between 1988 and 2007, taxpayers were able to decide whether 0.5% of wage or income taxes should go to church or other purposes. However, if a minimum amount was not reached at that time, the state paid for it. In 2008, in 7,195,155 (34.31%) tax returns, this 0.7% was sent to the Catholic Church. Two years earlier it was around 711,975 fewer. The income from taxes has increased since the new regulation in 2007 from 173.8 million euros to 252.7 million euros.

It is not easily possible for Spain's Catholics to officially break away from the Church, as Spanish law does not recognize the act of leaving the Church and Spain's Catholic Church has been released by the highest judge from the obligation to delete the data of its members from the church records at their request . This decision by the Supreme Court in Spain came about, among other things, because “the Archdiocese of Valencia, which is considered to be particularly conservative, refused to make any repayments”. The Archdiocese was not impressed by instructions from the Spanish Data Protection Authority (AEPD) and initiated numerous legal proceedings, whereby it was unsuccessful in 171 cases before the decision of the Supreme Court.

According to the survey, a larger minority of 15.9% of the population describes themselves as non-religious and 9.5% as atheists. According to a study by the Pew Research Center , 46% of Spaniards describe themselves as "religious" and 19% as "very religious". Among the 18 to 39 year olds, only a minority of 9% is very religious; worldwide, the value is only lower in France and Japan, where the values ​​for 39 to 59-year-olds are only marginally higher. According to a representative survey by the Eurobarometer , 59% of people in Spain believed in God in 2005 , and another 21% believed in another spiritual force . 18% percent of the respondents believed neither in a god nor in any other spiritual force, 2% of the respondents were undecided.

Muslims make up 4.13% (as of the end of 2016), Protestants 0.3% and Jehovah's Witnesses 0.25% of the population. In Spain, the important place of pilgrimage is Santiago de Compostela , the destination of many pilgrims on the Way of St. James .

See also : Roman Catholic Church in Spain , Spanish Evangelical Church, and History of the Jews in Spain

Biggest cities

Center of Madrid at night

View from Parc Güell over Barcelona

The Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias , the symbol of Valencia

View over Seville from the Giralda , Seville Cathedral

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

→ Main article : List of cities in Spain

There are two megacities in Spain , Madrid and Barcelona . However, the strong growth of cities in recent years has led to the creation of metropolitan regions , some of which go far beyond the political and administrative boundaries of the municipalities. More than six and four million people respectively live in the greater Madrid and Barcelona areas , and over a million each in the metropolitan regions of Valencia, Seville and Bilbao.

The ten largest cities (as of January 1, 2019)

city	resident
Madrid	3,266,126
Barcelona	1,636,762
Valencia	794.288
Seville	688.592
Zaragoza	674.997
Málaga	574,654
Murcia	453.258
Palma de Mallorca	416.065
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria	379.925
Bilbao	346,843

Autonomous communities by population

The total of 17 Autonomous Communities are very heterogeneous in size. While the population of Andalusia , Catalonia , the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the Valencia region is between around 5 and 9 million, the smallest regions of Navarre , Cantabria and La Rioja live well under a million people. (As of January 1, 2019)

Autonomous community	resident
Andalusia	8,410,002
Catalonia	7,672,699
Madrid	6,661,949
Valencia	5,000,868
Galicia	2,698,875
Castile and León	2,398,214
Basque Country	2,206,965
Canary Islands	2,152,590
Castile-La Mancha	2,032,004
Region of Murcia	1,493,530
Aragon	1,318,453
Balearic Islands	1,148,947
Extremadura	1,066,998
Asturias	1,022,670
Navarre	653.846
Cantabria	580.964
La Rioja	316,551
Autonomous city	resident
Ceuta	84,777
Melilla	86,465

story

→ Main article : History of Spain

Roman theater in Mérida

In prehistoric times, Iberians , Celts and Basques settled on the Iberian Peninsula, which is named after the former.

In the 11th century BC The Phoenicians settled on the south coast; the most famous of their colonies was Cadiz (Gades). The name of Spain derives from the Roman name Hispania from (of Phoenician ishapan "Land of hyrax"; what the Phoenicians for hyrax held, were in fact rabbit). During the Second Punic War , Roman troops reached the peninsula for the first time and occupied the west and south relatively quickly. It was 200 years before the north was also under the control of the Romans. In the late phase of the Western Roman Empire, the Visigoths moved to Gaul and founded the Visigoth Empire there , which also included large parts of Iberia. After a heavy defeat against the Franks , the Visigoths largely vacated Gaul and shifted the focus of their empire to the Iberian Peninsula. This second and last phase of the Visigoth Empire is called the Toledan Empire after the new capital Toledo .

In the early 8th century, the Moors destroyed the Visigoth Empire and conquered the entire Iberian Peninsula. Their rule for centuries shaped the country. The Arab heritage was reflected in both architecture and language. However, the Moors did not succeed in establishing themselves permanently in the northern outskirts of the peninsula. From there, the "Reconquest" ( Reconquista ) began. In this process, which stretched over several centuries (722–1492) and was not continuous, the Moorish domination was gradually pushed back by the Christian empires until the last Moorish state on the peninsula disappeared with the fall of Granada in 1492. The end of the Reconquista was followed by persecution of religious minorities. The " Catholic Kings " Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon no longer wanted to tolerate non-Christians in their sphere of influence. Muslims and Jews were forced to be baptized. In 1478 the Spanish Inquisition was set up to track down and punish only outwardly converted “unbelievers” who secretly practiced their earlier faith. On March 31, 1492, Isabella I and Ferdinand II issued the Alhambra Edict , according to which all of the 300,000 Jews who were not baptized had to leave the Kingdom of Castile and the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon . ( Sephardim ). In 1609 Philip III. even drive out the Moriscos , descendants of Moors who converted to Christianity.

Christopher Columbus (around 1451–1506): Genoese navigator in the service of the Spanish crown (portrait of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio )

In the 16th century, the dominions of Castile and Aragon were united under one ruler. At that time, Aragon had long been an important sea power in the Mediterranean, while Castile was in competition with Portugal for supremacy in the Atlantic Ocean . With the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492, Spain temporarily rose to become a Christian world power.

By 1519 the Emperor selected Charles V (as a Spanish king, Carlos I ), a grandson of the Catholic Kings, 1516 came Habsburg to the Spanish throne. Until their extinction in 1700, the Spanish kings came from the Spanish line of this dynasty. Because of the question of the successor to the last Spanish Habsburg king, Charles II , the War of the Spanish Succession broke out , in which the leading European powers were involved. As a result, Philip V, a branch of the Bourbons, came to the Spanish throne.

The Spanish colonial empire extended around 1600 over large parts of South and Central America, the southern part of today's USA and the Philippines . As the English and French also stepped up their efforts to gain colonies, Spain gradually lost its hegemony. The Wars of Liberation of the American states, especially the Mexican and South American Wars of Independence at the beginning of the 19th century, brought independence to most of the colonies. In 1898 the last major possessions were lost to the United States in the Spanish-American War , which meant the end of the colonial empire. The later African colonies ( Spanish Morocco , Spanish Sahara and Equatorial Guinea ) finally achieved their independence in the 20th century.

Generalissimo Francisco Franco , dictator of Spain for many years from 1936/39 until his death in 1975

At the beginning of the 20th century, Spain was largely a backward agricultural country, characterized by feudal property relations , the few existing industries were mainly concentrated in Catalonia and the Basque Country . In 1923 General Miguel Primo de Rivera took power and installed a military dictatorship , but this could not last long because of the pressing social problems, and in 1931 Spain became a republic. The inherited political and social conflicts weighed on the Second Republic from the beginning; as early as 1932 there was the first attempted coup by the right-wing military led by General José Sanjurjo . In 1934 a series of left and anarchist uprisings took place, some of which were very bloodily suppressed. The political instability, which was fueled above all by the extreme representatives of left and right positions and their paramilitary associations, but also by members of the regular security forces, worsened after the victory of the Popular Front made up of left-liberal, socialist and communist parties in the parliamentary elections on February 17 1936.

Felipe VI. has been King of Spain since June 19, 2014

In July 1936, parts of the military under the leadership of Generalissimo Francisco Franco carried out a coup against the government; the coup was only successful in some parts of the country and failed in the country's important political and industrial centers (including Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque Country). The Spanish Civil War followed , during which the putschists received important help from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany , while the liberal democracies France and Great Britain practiced a policy of non-interference and thus favored Franco's victory.

The war ended in 1939. The era of the Francoist dictatorship began with a period of violent purges lasting several years and led the country into long-lasting political and social lethargy. Although Franco received support from Germany and Italy during the civil war, Spain did not provide military support to the Axis powers during World War II. Most of the people who had fled Nazi Germany were interned in Spanish concentration camps that were set up before the war .

As in other European countries, Spain experienced a long post-war economic boom after World War II , which Franco managed to keep the country out of . In 1947 Franco restored the monarchy and in 1969 appointed Juan Carlos I as head of state as his successor. After the dictator's death on November 20, 1975, this initiated a process of democratization (span. Transición ). With the adoption of a constitution, Spain became a parliamentary monarchy in 1978 . In the final phase of the Franco dictatorship, and especially during the transition , there were massive acts of terrorism by ETA and other left and right-wing terrorist groups. In 1981 there was another attempted coup (" 23-F ") by the right-wing military and parts of the paramilitary Guardia Civil against the democratic government, but it failed.

The transition ended in 1982 with the takeover of government by Felipe González's Social Democratic Party ( PSOE ). During the 1980s, Spain became a member of NATO and the EU and experienced renewed economic growth. At the same time, in the fight against the ETA, a state terrorist group ( GAL ) was set up to fight Basque separatism with torture and murder. This era is known in Spain as the "dirty war" (Spanish guerra sucia ). The scandal surrounding the GAL involvement of senior members of the government led to the PSOE being defeated in 1996. As a result, José María Aznar ( Partido Popular , PP) became the new Prime Minister. After two legislative terms, which were marked by numerous scandals and domestic political conflicts ( Iraq war ), PP lost the parliamentary elections (March 14, 2004) , under the influence of the train attacks in Madrid on March 11, 2004. Then José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (PSOE) led a minority government in Madrid. With the elections in December 2011 , the PP under Mariano Rajoy came back to power, which after 1982, 1996 and 2004 meant the fourth change of power between conservatives and social democrats since the transition to democracy.

The parliamentary elections on December 20, 2015 led to a significant loss of votes for the two large parties and a strengthening of smaller parties such as Podemos and Ciudadanos . Due to the complicated majority structure, no government was formed and new elections followed on June 26, 2016 . After the distribution of seats had changed little, the formation of a government was again difficult. Finally, on October 29, 2016, Mariano Rajoy was re-elected as prime minister and led a minority government until he was overthrown on June 1, 2018 by a vote of no confidence in parliament. His successor as Prime Minister was the socialist Pedro Sánchez , whose party only has 84 seats in parliament and is therefore, as a minority government , dependent on the tolerance of Unidos Podemos , PNV and various separatist parties.

politics

Political parties

→ Main article : Political parties in Spain

Chamber in the Spanish Chamber of Deputies in Madrid

In Spain there are four parties or party alliances represented in Congress that are active throughout Spain: the right-wing conservative Partido Popular (PP), the social democratic PSOE and the left-wing gathering movement Izquierda Unida (IU) and, since 2008, the newly founded anti-regional-liberal Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD). In addition, the Podemos protest party, founded in March 2014, is playing an increasingly important role.

Regional parties play a crucial role, mainly because of the different nationalities in Spain. The most important parties represented in the Congress are the Catalan bourgeois-nationalist party alliance Convergència i Unió (CiU), the Catalan left-wing nationalists Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and the Basque bourgeois nationalists Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV). Most of the regionally organized parties advocate greater autonomy in their regions, these demands extend, especially among the Basques and Catalans, to state independence, for this goal there has been very massive action again since the end of Franquism (see Plan Ibarretxe ). The largest regional party is the social democratic Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya (PSC), which is, however, the closely linked sister party of the PSOE in Catalonia and thus only formally represents a regional party.

The incumbent Spanish President Pedro Sánchez

In addition to the political orientation of a party, the national orientation is also a decisive political criterion in Spain. The Partido Popular , which adheres to a pan-Spanish nationalism (state doctrine in Franquism) and emphasizes the unity and indivisibility of the Spanish nation, does poorly in Catalonia and the Basque Country.

In the election for the House of Representatives of the Spanish National Parliament on December 20, 2015, the conservative People's Party (PP) received 28.7% of the vote and 123 of the 350 seats, the Socialists (PSOE) 22.0% and 90 seats, the new, left-wing Podemos 20.7% and 69 seats and the new, liberal party of the Ciudadanos (C's) 13.9% and 40 seats. The remaining 28 seats went to small, partly regional parties. Thus, the PP had lost an absolute majority not only in the electoral vote, but - in spite of the voting rights that favored the larger parties - also in the parliamentary seats and Rajoy could not form a government without a coalition partner. The election result is also called historical, because the success of Podemos and Cuidadanos replaced the previous two-party system with a multi-party system.

King Felipe entrusted Rajoy with the formation of a new government. The refusal was announced on January 22, 2016 after the king also spoke to representatives from PSOE and Podemos. After the PSOE was unwilling to form a coalition with Podemos and the United Left , King Felipe VI succeeded. until May 2, 2016 not to find a majority candidate for the office of Prime Minister. He had to dissolve parliament and call new elections, which took place on June 26th. In this parliamentary election Podemos and United Left (Izquierda Unida) ran together as "Unidos Podemos". The renewed parliamentary election also did not bring a majority to either of the two camps (PP / C's or PSOE / UP). After the resignation of Pedro Sánchez on October 1, the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) decided on October 23, 2016 in Madrid to allow another term of office for the Conservative Executive Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, party spokesmen announced. On June 1, 2018, Rajoy was removed from office following a motion of censure , and Pedro Sánchez became the new head of government .

The following important information is missing from this article or section:

There were further elections after 2018 (April 2019 and November 2019) which are still missing here.

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Political indices

Political indices issued by non-governmental organizations

Name of the index	Index value	Worldwide rank	Interpretation aid	year
Fragile States Index	40.4 out of 120	146 of 178	Stability of the country: more stable 0 = very sustainable / 120 = very alarming	2020
Democracy index	8.12 out of 10	22 of 167	Full democracy 0 = authoritarian regime / 10 = full democracy	2020
Freedom in the World Index	92 of 100	-	Freedom status: free 0 = not free / 100 = free	2020
Freedom of the press ranking	20.44 out of 100	29 of 180	Satisfactory situation for freedom of the press 0 = good situation / 100 = very serious situation	2021
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)	62 of 100	32 of 180	0 = very corrupt / 100 = very clean	2020

Political structure

Administrative division of Spain

→ Main articles : Entidad de carácter territorial , Autonomous Communities of Spain  and List of Provinces of Spain

Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities or regions (Comunidades Autónomas) . These do not have statehood (so Spain is not a federal state ), but nevertheless have a range of competencies that is comparable to that of the German states . Of these, seven (Asturias, Cantabria, Navarra, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Balearic Islands) consist of only one province, the rest of several provinces. There are 50 provinces in total. In the uniprovincial autonomous communities, these also perform the tasks assigned to the province. There are also the two autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla , which are neither assigned to an autonomous community nor to a province.

The lowest level of administration are the municipalities (municipios) . In different Autonomous Communities there are still different intermediate levels between the provinces and the municipalities. These units have different names ( comarcas , subcomarcas, veguerías, mancomunidades) .

There have long been unresolved conflicts over the autonomy status of the Basque Country and Catalonia . In the Basque Country, ETA has been fighting for independence with violence and terror since 1959. The explicitly Basque or Catalan parties, on the other hand, campaigned for a greatly expanded autonomy, “free affiliation to Spain” or independence of their regions in a purely political way. One invokes the right of the peoples to self-determination and wants to hold referendums in which the population of the respective region can freely decide on the status. Examples of this include the referendums in Québec (1980, 1995) and Montenegro (2006). The central Spanish parties PP and PSOE are opposed to these plans.

police

→ Main article : Police (Spain)

Policía Municipal de Madrid patrol car

The police system in Spain is complex due to the political structure of Spain. It essentially comprises four types of police bodies:

1. The Guardia Civil , which is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior and is organized militarily
2. the State National Police ( Cuerpo Nacional de Policía - CNP) of the Ministry of the Interior,
3. the police forces of the Autonomous Communities (Policía Autonómica), which have so far been set up in the Basque Country ( Ertzaintza ), in Catalonia ( Mossos d'Esquadra ), in Navarra ( Policía Foral ) and in the Canary Islands (Policía Canaria) ,
4. as well as the municipal and city ​​police (called Guardia Urbana, Policía Local or Policía Municipal ).

Secret services

→ Main article : Centro Nacional de Inteligencia

The Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI; German National Intelligence Center) is the Spanish secret service that was officially established by law in November 2002. It goes back to several secret government organizations of the Franco era, which were not officially known and had no name.

military

→ Main article : Spanish Armed Forces

The Spanish Armed Forces ( Spanish Fuerzas Armadas Españolas ) are divided into

• Army ( Ejército de Tierra )
• Marine ( Armada Española ) with the Marine Infantry de Marina
• Air Force ( Ejército del Aire )
• as well as the paramilitary Guardia Civil and the
• Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME, Military Emergency Unit) founded in 2005 .

Other independent units are the Royal Guard ( Guardia Real ) and the Spanish Legion, which reports directly to the High Command .

As of 2014, Spain had around 123,000 soldiers and 16,000 reservists. The backbone of the land forces are 327 main battle tanks. The Spanish Navy has 46 ships, including an aircraft carrier, and the Air Force has 500 aircraft (including 216 combat aircraft).

The Supreme Commander of the Spanish Armed Forces is the Spanish King , currently Felipe VI. The military budget of Spain is 12.8 billion euros (1.2% of GDP). Since 2000 it has been possible for men and women who speak Spanish as their mother tongue but are not Spanish citizens to join the Spanish Armed Forces. Conscription was abolished in 2001.

Foreign and European policy

Locations of the diplomatic missions of Spain

Spain’s foreign policy priorities are EU integration, relations with Latin America, North Africa and the Middle East, Mediterranean policy and transatlantic relations. Spain has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and was a non-permanent member of the Security Council from 2015-2016.

Spain maintains close relations with the USA and is keen to expand them further. Particularly close cultural and social ties, and based on them, a dense political and economic exchange, exist with Latin America and the Caribbean. The summit meetings of the Ibero-American heads of state and government that have taken place since 1991 are an important multilateral platform for this. The last meeting took place on October 28 and 29, 2016 in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). The focus of development cooperation is on Latin America and Africa.

Plenary Chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels. Spain is one of 27 member states of the European Union .

Spain has been a member of the European Union (EU) since January 1, 1986, as well as the Eurozone . Spain is a member of continental organizations such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Western European Union (WEU) and the European Defense Agency (EVA). Spain draws an extremely positive balance of its more than 30 years of EU membership. Most of the Spaniards associate the EU with the democratization, modernization and economic growth of the country.

Spain has chaired the EU Presidency four times : in the first half of 1989 when the adoption of the “ Delors Report ” was approved; in the second half of 1995, when the name of the future European currency (the euro ) was adopted; in the first half of 2002 when the first euro coins were put into circulation; and most recently in the first half of 2010 when the Lisbon Treaty and the trio presidency were introduced.

Spain, with its tendency to be pro-European, has played a key role in certain initiatives. Of all the following deserve special mention: the development of a social Europe ; the Europe of the citizens and the introduction of the European Citizens' Initiative ; the fight against international organized crime; the creation of a common immigration policy and the strengthening of the external borders; the development of cooperation with the countries of the Mediterranean and North Africa; promoting dialogue for peace in the Middle East; a common agricultural or fisheries policy; and a clear commitment to effective strategies against gender-based violence and organ transplants.

Since Spain joined the European Union, many Spaniards have held positions of responsibility and important activity in the institutions.

Law

Constitutional law

Political system of Spain

According to the constitution of December 6, 1978 , Spain is a social and democratic constitutional state with the form of a parliamentary monarchy (Art. 1, Paragraph 3 of the Spanish Constitution ). The title of king is hereditary. The current king is Felipe VI. The king is head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. The residence of the royal family is the Palacio de la Zarzuela in Madrid.

In the constitution, the role of the Spanish crown is essentially limited to representative functions. Additional functions of the king are the confirmation of laws and the appointment and dismissal of the head of government.

The highest legislative body in Spain is the Parliament, the Cortes Generales . The Cortes are divided into two chambers, the House of Representatives (Congreso de los Diputados) and the Senate (Senado) . The 300 to 400 members of the House of Representatives are directly elected for four years. The Senate has 259 members. 208 members are directly elected by the people and the remaining 51 are elected by the parliaments of the autonomous communities. Senators are appointed for a four-year term.

Universal suffrage for men had already been introduced in 1868, but priests, members of the public service and women were excluded from the right to stand for election in the national parliament until a law passed on May 8, 1931. In the parliamentary elections on June 28, 1931 , three women were elected to the Spanish Parliament for the first time ; Margarita Nelken , Victoria Kent and Clara Campoamor . Ironically, however, women were still denied the right to vote. On December 9, 1931, a new constitution came into force, Article 36 of which contained universal voting rights for women. On November 19, 1933 , the first elections took place under the new constitution, in which women could actively participate for the first time. Universal suffrage was suppressed under the Franco regime . Women were gradually granted some political rights: in 1942 a kind of parliament was established in which, in addition to members of the Falange Party and various state organizations, a hundred family representatives were provided, who were to be elected by heads of families and married women. From 1957 onwards, married women and those who were heads of families could vote in the elections of these hundred MPs. The first such elections were not held until 1967, however. It was only with the restoration of democracy in the mid-1970s that universal suffrage, and thus also women's suffrage , was fully restored. When the referendum of 1976 and the parliamentary elections of 1977 voted women off, and the unrestricted universal suffrage for adults was guaranteed in the new constitution of the 1978th

The Prime Minister ( Presidente del Gobierno, literally translated as "Government President") is elected by the House of Representatives. The ministers are appointed by the king on the proposal of the prime minister. The official seat is the Palacio de la Moncloa in Madrid.

Spain has been a member of the European Union since January 1986 .

See also : List of Government Presidents of Spain  and List of Foreign Ministers of Spain

Infrastructure

Spain's infrastructure is well developed due to the building boom that has been going on for years. Increasing tourism also made it necessary to build a modern rail, road and air transport network. However, after the bubble burst, many construction projects could not be completed; they are still unfinished in the area.

Road network

Spanish motorway

From 2000 to 2008 the number of cars in Spain increased by around 12%. In 2008 there were 486 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants; As a result of the financial crisis, this rate fell slightly again (2009: 479). 78% of the population live in cities. In some metropolitan areas such as Madrid or Barcelona , the road networks are locally congested, especially during rush hour. Sometimes there are traffic management systems like in Valencia .

Spain has a well-developed road and motorway network of 663,795 kilometers in length. Most of the roads are paved. The trunk road network includes national roads, carreteras nacionales , and motorways, the so-called autovías (free of charge ) and autopistas (toll, de peaje ). You can pay with cash or credit card at the paying offices of the chargeable autopistas . You can also pay with the so-called Telepeaje. You carry a sensor with you in your car, which automatically registers when you drive past a toll booth. The toll gate then opens automatically.

In some cases, toll motorway sections run parallel to toll-free ones. There are mostly toll-free autovías around metropolitan areas , many long-distance connections are chargeable.

The maximum speed within built-up areas is 50 km / h, on country roads 90 km / h, if there is a shoulder at least 1.5 m wide or an additional lane is available, 100 km / h and on motorways 120 km / h. In built-up areas, dipped headlights must always be used at night.

The warning fines are much higher in Spain compared to Germany. If you pay a parking ticket within 14 days, this results in a 50 percent discount. What is striking is the fact that the sidewalk is absolutely free of vehicles. Motorcycles and cars are not allowed to be parked on the sidewalk, not even on one side. Parking on the sidewalk (even if only partially) results in immediate towing. On the other hand, parking in front of pedestrian crossings is punished less severely than in Germany. In many places there is an acute shortage of parking spaces due to the narrow streets. A solid yellow line on the edge of the road indicates that parking is prohibited. The local police often have their own tow trucks. The parking fees in metropolitan areas are at the same level as in metropolises in German-speaking countries.

Very high speed offenses, dangerous hooliganism in traffic or driving under the influence of alcohol can be considered a criminal offense and even result in imprisonment.

Safety vests have been required by law in Spain since July 2004 . These must be worn in the event of an accident or breakdown. Spare lamps for the vehicle lighting and two red warning triangles must also be carried in the vehicle. Green insurance cards are not compulsory, but recommended as the police are familiar with them.

Road traffic in the country is considered very safe. In 2013, there were a total of 3.7 road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in Spain. For comparison: In Germany there were 4.3 deaths in the same year. A total of 1730 people were killed in traffic. The country has a high rate of motorization by global standards. In 2016 there were 611 motor vehicles for every 1,000 inhabitants in the country (in Germany there were 610 vehicles).

See also : List of highways in Spain

bicycle

The Spaniards first perceived cycling as a sporting activity; The bicycle has only recently been used more and more frequently as a means of transport, even if the Spanish bicycle culture is still inferior to that of Central European cities. For a long time, cycle paths were only known in regions that were attractive to tourists. In recent years, however, in most of the larger cities of Spain, in addition to a network of bicycle lanes that is growing at the same time, the offer and use of urban bicycle rental systems , comparable to those in other cities outside Spain, has spread. Barcelona, ​​for example, have had a bike rental system since March 2007, Madrid (since 2014), Girona , Alicante , Saragossa , Seville , Valencia , Burgos , Pamplona , Albacete and Salamanca . Other cities are to follow.

The use of the bicycle not only as a piece of sports equipment, but above all in everyday life is also dependent on the differences in altitude and the climate within the city. Individual bicycle traffic (in addition to bicycle rental systems) is also increasing. Especially in the big cities with heavy vehicle traffic and overcrowded public transport, the bicycle is a fast and inexpensive alternative, especially since the infrastructure is very well developed in places. In Barcelona , for example , which has a very flat urban geography, more than 182 km of bicycle lanes had been built by 2013.

The cycle paths are separated from other traffic with traffic lights and, especially on busy main roads, in addition to dividing lines, physically by means of anchored rubber or plastic dividers.

The existing networks are generally well accepted and expanded. In the greater Madrid area, some motorways have their own bicycle lane. It is noticeable that in Spain two cyclists can ride side by side.

Remote bus network

Due to the low density of railways, Spain has a very well developed bus network. There are special bus stations in small and large cities. The bus network connects smaller towns and villages in particular, but there are also national lines and international connections. Bus travel is comparatively cheap in Spain.

shipping

The largest seaports are in Algeciras , Barcelona , Valencia , Bilbao, Gijón and Santa Cruz de Tenerife . There are a number of ferry connections between the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands and the Canaries.

The Canal Imperial de Aragón and the Canal de Castilla were built for inland navigation in the 18th and 19th centuries . However, these are now only used to transport drinking water. For the purpose of water and energy supply, numerous dams were built in all major rivers in the 20th century , so that the rivers of the country are no longer navigable . The only exception is the Guadalquivir between Seville and the Atlantic. This section is also navigable for ocean-going ships. The numerous reservoirs in the interior are used for water sports. As part of the Expo 2008 , passenger shipping was set up on the Ebro in the urban area of Zaragoza .

Railway network

RENFE series 730 high-speed train on the Viaducto Martín Gil

The network in Iberian broad gauge (1668 mm) of the state railway company Red Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Españoles (RENFE) is supplemented by a standard-gauge high-speed network called Alta Velocidad Española (AVE), which in 2013 had a length of 2276 kilometers. The long-distance transport system is called Grandes Líneas , with the exception of high-speed transport. RENFE operates local S-Bahn networks, the so-called Cercanías , in the metropolitan areas . There are Cercanías networks in the following regions : Asturias , Barcelona , Bilbao , Cádiz , Madrid , Malaga , Murcia / Alicante , Santander , San Sebastián , Saragossa , Seville and Valencia . Narrow-gauge lines are operated by the regional companies SFM , EuskoTren , FGC and FGV , as well as by the state-owned FEVE .

The Spanish long-distance trains of the Grandes Líneas are divided into day and night trains. Day trains are the Alaris , Altaria , Arco , Euromed , Talgo , Intercity and Diurno . Night trains are the Trenhotel and Estrella . These types of trains differ in their design and travel on fixed routes. There is no classification according to train speed and stopping density as in the German-speaking area in Spain. Tickets are not sold for a route, but for a product.

The cities of Barcelona , Bilbao , Madrid , Valencia , Seville , Palma and Málaga have underground or metro networks. Some cities like Alicante , Bilbao , Santa Cruz de Tenerife / La Laguna , Madrid and Barcelona have newly opened tram networks .

Airports

Madrid-Barajas Airport : Spain's largest international airport

Around 40 Spanish cities have an airport for traffic machines. The largest Spanish airlines are Iberia , Air Europa and Vueling . The airports of Madrid and Barcelona are among the ten largest European airports in terms of passenger numbers. There is an airlift, puente aéreo , between Madrid and Barcelona airports : numerous flights take off at very short intervals between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. In 2007 there were around 61 million passengers in Spain (2013 only around 46 million).

The puente aéreo is operated by the Spanish airline Iberia.

See also : List of airports in Spain

Internet

In 2019, 91 percent of Spain's residents used the internet . In 2012, around 19% of the population had DSL connections and around 5% of the population had cable connections. The broadband internet speed is between 10 Mbit / s and 50 Mbit / s based on DOCSIS3 for cable connections and 100 Mbit / s for the few fiber optic connections (approx. 1%).

business

→ Main article : Economy of Spain

With the Plan de Estabilización 1959, the democratic change in the period after 1975 , the accession to the European Community in 1986 and the participation in the European Economic and Monetary Union, Spain laid the basis for a long-lasting economic upswing. The country's industry has been gradually liberalized and modernized. A number of internationally successful companies have emerged from this, for example Iberia , Seat , Telefónica , Zara or Endesa . The opening of Spain to international competition led to extensive foreign direct investment.

The final assembly of the Airbus A400M takes place in Seville , Spain.

A model of the Seat Ibiza . Seat is an important industrial employer in Spain.

The price for this, however, was strong contraction processes in traditional industries, e.g. B. in the Basque Country. The average number of employees in Spanish companies with 10 employees in 2011 was also well below the EU average of 17 (for comparison: Greece 5, Germany 35). 80% of the companies in the manufacturing sector have fewer than 10 employees, which indicates the low competitiveness of the, on average, less innovative industry. The reindustrialization after the 2009–2013 crisis, which led to a sharp collapse in industrial production, is progressing only slowly, even though the associated job cuts increased productivity. In 2014, industrial production grew by 1.1% for the first time.

The three largest publishing groups are Grupo Vocento , the Italian RCS MediaGroup and PRISA .

With 81,880 employees (end of 2006), the world's largest cooperative is located in the country, the Mondragón Corporación Cooperativa .

According to a study by Bank Credit Suisse from 2017, Spain was the country with the twelfth-largest national total assets in the world. The total Spanish holdings of real estate, stocks and cash totaled $ 4,845 billion. The wealth per adult person is 129,578 dollars on average and 63,369 dollars in median (Germany: 203,946 and 47,091 dollars, respectively). The Gini coefficient for wealth distribution was 68.0 in 2016, which indicates a medium wealth inequality. In 2018 there were 25 billionaires in Spain. The richest person in the country is Amancio Ortega , who is one of the 10 richest people in the world with a fortune of around 70 billion US dollars. Ortega is the founder of the textile company Inditex .

The shadow economy accounts for 21.5% of GDP in the economy.

The public debt in 2010 was 9.24% of the gross national product. This fell slightly below the limit of 9.3% specified by the European Union.

View of Benidorm at night . Tourism plays an essential role in Spain's economy.

The growth of recent years was largely driven by a real estate boom, with which the average debt per person rose to 125 percent of annual income in 2005, three times more than a decade ago.

The real estate bubble burst in the course of the financial crisis from 2007 . Since the Spanish banks almost exclusively issued loans with variable interest rates, shifting the interest rate risk on to the borrowers and the banks were hardly involved in the deterioration of asset-backed securities due to strict regulation, the Spanish banks were long considered relatively healthy.

But since the real estate sector generated almost a third of GDP, the crash had a significant impact on the economy. Since real estate prices fell sharply at the same time, by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter of the previous year, many households are over-indebted. The loan defaults also increased fourfold, the default rate is 5% according to official information. In Spain, a property costs 7.2 times the average annual income of a household. In the UK they were only 4.6 times as much and in the US only three times as much. The Spanish market is therefore still considered to be significantly overpriced, so that a sustained drop in prices is to be expected.

Greenhouses at El Ejido

In March 2009, the regional savings bank Caja Castilla la Mancha had to be supported with a billion-euro loan from the central bank. The institute is to receive up to nine billion euros in liquidity aid, for which the government gives a guarantee.

On June 25, 2012, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos applied to the European Union on behalf of the Spanish government for financial aid to recapitalize Spanish credit institutions. The euro partners had already promised Spain a lump sum of 100 billion euros. After the situation in the Spanish financial sector eased, the country left the euro rescue package in January 2014 . Spain received a total of 41.4 billion euros to support the credit institutions over the 18-month period of the aid measures.

The unemployment rate based on calculations by the European Union in November 2012 was 26.6%, seasonally adjusted. In 2006 it was 7.6%, in November 2008 it was 13.4%. The unemployment rate thus reached the highest level in the European Union at that time. At the same time, the unemployment rate among those under 25 rose to 56.5% (November 2012), the second highest in the European Union after Greece. Due to the economic upswing that began at the end of 2013, the unemployment rate fell to 20.5 percent (4.68 million unemployed) by January 2016 and to 15.2% in June 2018. In 2017, youth unemployment was 39.4%. In 2009, 4.2% of the total workforce worked in agriculture, 24% in industry and 71.7% in the service sector. The total number of employees is estimated at 22.75 million for 2017; 46.4% of them are women. In the Global Competitiveness Index , which measures a country's competitiveness, Spain ranks 34th out of 137 countries (as of 2017-2018). In 2017, the country ranks 69th out of 180 countries in the index for economic freedom .

currency

Spain is part of the European single market . Together with 18 other EU member states (blue) it forms a monetary union, the euro zone .

The currency in Spain has been the euro since January 1, 1999 , which, as in all countries in the euro zone, replaced the country's own currency ( peseta ) as the official means of payment from 2002 onwards. The exchange rate to the previous currency, pesetas (Pts) or singular (Pta), was: 1 € = 166.386 Pts or 1 Pts = 0.6010 € cents. Prices are still given in pesetas, especially for expensive goods that are not bought too often, such as cars or apartments. Millions of pts, million pesetas are often used as a generous abbreviated order of magnitude : an apartment costs 25 million pts in everyday language or a car 2 million pts.

The currency unit duro is occasionally used in conversations . One duro is equal to 5 pesetas, or about 3 cents. To convert from euro to duro , it is sufficient to divide the euro amount by 3 and then add two zeros (or multiply by 100). During the changeover phase to the euro, the Spaniards were attuned to the new currency with the catchy motto from Duro to Euro .

gross domestic product

According to the International Monetary Fund , Spain was the 14th largest economy in the world in 2016. During the financial crisis in 2009, the Spanish economy shrank by 3.58%. Years of recession and stagnation followed. The Spanish economy left this long-lasting recession behind in the third quarter of 2013 with 0.1 percent growth after nine declining quarters. The growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) was 1.4% in 2014 and 3.2% in 2015.

The gross domestic product of Spain was around 1,113.8 billion euros in 2016. This corresponds to a growth of 3.2% compared to the previous year. The GDP per capita was 23,970 euros in the same year.

The structure of the Spanish economy shows a distribution typical of industrial nations:

• 68% services,
• 20% manufacturing industry,
• 9% construction industry,
• 3% agriculture.

The most important branches of the Spanish economy are tourism, construction, communication and information technology, metalworking industry, mechanical engineering, agriculture and petrochemicals.

Spain is characterized by great economic differences between the individual Autonomous Communities. In highly industrialized regions such as the Basque Country , Madrid , Navarra or Catalonia , GDP per capita expressed in purchasing power standards in 2014 was between 8 and 25 percent above the European Union average , while the more agricultural regions such as Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha or Andalusia only achieved between 63 and 72 percent of the EU average.

GDP per capita by autonomous community

Item	Autonomous community	GDP / capita, PPS , (EU28 = 100) (2014)	GDP / capita in € (nominal) (2017)
1.	Madrid	123	33,809
2.	Basque Country	120	33,088
3.	Navarre	112	30,914
4th	Catalonia	109	29,936
-	EU-28	100	27,500
5.	Aragon	97	27,403
6th	La Rioja	95	26,044
7th	Balearic Islands	94	25,772
-	Spain	91	25,000
8th.	Castile and León	86	23,555
9.	Cantabria	82	22,513
10.	Galicia	82	22,497
11.	Valencia	80	22,055
12th	Asturias	80	22,046
13th	Murcia	75	20,585
14th	Canary Islands	74	20,425
15th	Castile-La Mancha	72	19,681
16.	Ceuta	71	19,524
17th	Andalusia	67	18,470
18th	Melilla	65	17,945
19th	Extremadura	63	17,262

tourism

→ Main article : Tourism in Spain

Spain's coasts

Beach tourism on the beach at Villajoyosa

The Sierra Nevada : Pico del Veleta

Spain was visited by 75.6 million tourists in 2016, placing it in third place in global travel statistics after France and the USA. For comparison: In 2005 there were still 55.6 million foreign tourists. In the record year 2016, 22.1 million tourists came from the United Kingdom, 15.2 million came from France and in third place came guests from Germany with 11.4 million. The Canary Islands are the main tourist destination in Spain: 31.4% of all tourists have traveled there. The second most important travel destination is Catalonia, it was visited by 24 million tourists. This is followed by Andalusia with 12.5 and Madrid with 10.6 million tourists. Tourism brought Spain an income of over 60 billion US dollars.

Spain had in 2017, according to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum 's most competitive tourism sector in the world.

Popular travel destinations (with much visited places) are:

• Pyrenees
• Balearic Islands
• Canary Islands
  • Tenerife
• Costa Brava
  • Barcelona
  • Girona (Spanish Gerona )
  • Lloret de Mar
  • Roses (Spanish Rosas )
• Costa Daurada (Spanish Costa Dorada )
  • Salou
• Costa del Sol
• Costa de la Luz
• Costa Blanca
  • Benidorm
  • Dénia
• Sierra Nevada
• Costa Verde

Agriculture

Olive growing area near Arenas del Rey in Andalusia

54% of the land area is used for agriculture, irrigated agriculture is practiced on around 20.1% of the cultivated area. 144,000 square kilometers of the country's area are forested. The following agricultural products are produced in Spain: Grains (especially wheat and maize), vegetables, olives, grapes, sugar beets, citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons, meat (including sheep, goats, rabbits and poultry), dairy products (e.g. Manchego Cheese ), sea fish and seafood. Since 2004, Spain has also been the only European country with a significant transgenic acreage (especially genetically modified maize). The Spanish wine-growing is significant, however, by the consequences of global warming seriously endangered.

Apartments

Many Spanish families have a weekend house in the country or by the sea in addition to an apartment in the city. According to figures from the Banco de España , there were around 23.7 million apartments ( Piso in Spanish ) and 15.39 million households in Spain at the end of 2005 . This means that there are 1.54 apartments for every Spanish household, the highest rate in the world. 85% of Spanish apartments are occupied by their owners and 15% are rented out.

The Spanish average price for a new apartment is 2510 € / m² (December 2005). Housing prices vary from region to region.

Energy industry

Primary energy consumption in Spain peaked in 2007, fell significantly until 2009 and then remained roughly the same until 2018.

Primary energy consumption by energy source

The most important source of energy in Spain is oil, which in 2018 provided 44.3% of the primary energy. Overall, fossil fuels (petroleum 44.3%, natural gas 20.9% and coal 8.9%) account for 74.1% of the primary energy consumed. In 2010, 73.9% of the primary energy sources had to be imported.

Energy source	1994 (%)	2009 (%)	2010 (%)	2014 (%)	2018 (%)
oil	53.5	48.8	47.3	42.8	44.3
natural gas	6.7	23.8	23.5	20.0	20.9
Nuclear energy	14.8	10.5	12.2	12.6	11.2
Renewable energy	6.5	9.3	11.1	14.6	13.8
money	18.4	8.1	6.4	10.1	8.9
Foreign trade balance electricity	0.1	−0.5	−0.5	−0.25	0.7

Power generation

In 2009, electrical energy accounted for 21.5% of the final energy consumed . In 2010, 288,563 GWh of electricity were generated in Spain  . The largest share (23%) of this was produced in gas and steam combined cycle power plants , another 7% came from coal-fired power plants . The total of six nuclear power plants supplied 22%, 16% came from wind power plants , a further 16% from hydropower plants and 2% from solar plants . Spain had become the largest European producer of electrical energy from wind energy in 2010 with 43,692 GWh and was also ahead of the Federal Republic of Germany this year.

Energy type	Share (%) 2010	Share (%) 2020
Combined gas and steam power plant	23	17.8
Nuclear energy	22nd	22.2
Hydropower	16	11.9
Wind energy	16	21.7
money	7th	2.0
solar power	2	7.9
Petroleum , natural gas	1	1.7
rest	13th	14.8

In power plants of the type combined cycle gas is mainly used. The remaining types of energy include other renewable energies (2%) and other forms of energy “energias cogenerativas”.

Nuclear energy

See also : List of Nuclear Facilities in Spain

In Spain there are currently six nuclear power plants with eight reactor blocks and an installed gross output of a total of 7716 MW on the grid.

In 1983 a moratorium was passed to initiate the nuclear phase-out . Several reactor blocks were also completed after 1983, but plans for new construction were postponed and finally discarded in 1994. In this legislative period, the ruling party (socialist party) has turned around. On February 15, 2011, the Spanish Parliament passed a change in the law, according to which the 40-year maximum operating time of nuclear power plants will be abolished.

In Spain there are laws that prohibit the further expansion of nuclear energy.

Renewable energy

→ Main article : "Spain" in the article Energy transition by country

Electricity generation from renewable energy sources experienced a slight upswing in Spain: In 2010 35.4% of the electricity generated came from renewable energy sources, in 2020 it was 43.6%. With an installed wind energy capacity of 23,170  MW , Spain was fifth in the world after China , the USA , Germany and India in 2014 . At the end of 2020, the installed wind capacity had risen to 27,264 MW. Solar energy is also experiencing an upswing, with the installed capacity from photovoltaic systems currently (as of February 2015) at 4500 MW (2010: 3643 MW, 2007: approx. 900 MW). With Andasol 1, 2 and 3 (50 MW each), the currently (2012) largest solar thermal power plants in Europe are located in Spain. In 2010, a capacity of 682 MW from solar thermal power plants was installed.

Economic indicators

The key economic indicators of gross domestic product, inflation, budget balance and foreign trade have developed as follows in recent years:

Change in gross domestic product (GDP), real
in% compared to the previous year
year	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Change in% yoy	−3.6	0.0	−1	−2.6	−1.7	1.4	3.8	3.0	2.9	2.4
Source: Eurostat

Development of GDP (nominal)
absolute (in billions of euros)						per inhabitant (in thousands of euros)
year	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	year	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
GDP in billions of euros	1032	1077	1114	1162	1202	GDP per inhabitant (in thousands of euros)	22,200	23,100	23,800	24,400	24,900
Source: Eurostat

Development of the inflation rate						Development of the budget balance
in% compared to the previous year						in% of GDP ("minus" = deficit in the national budget)
year	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	year	2016	2017	2016	2017	2018
inflation rate	−0.2	−0.6	−0.2	2.0	1.7	Budget balance	−6.0	−5.3	−4.5	−3.1	−2.5
Source: Eurostat (as of summer 2019)

Main trading partner (2018)
Export (in%) to		Import (in%) of
France	15.1	Germany	12.5
Germany	10.8	France	10.8
Italy	8.0	People's Republic of China	8.4
Portugal	7.4	Italy	6.6
United Kingdom	6.7	United States	4.1
United States	4.5	Netherlands	4.0
Netherlands	3.5	United Kingdom	3.6
other countries	44.0	other countries	50.0
all EU countries together	67.1	all EU countries together	55.1
Source: gtai

Main products of foreign trade (2017)
Export goods (share in%)		Imported goods (share in%)
Motor vehicles and parts	17.3	Chemicals	13.5
food	12.9	Motor vehicles and parts	12.3
Chemicals	12.8	food	8.6
machinery	7.8	machinery	7.9
Textiles / clothing	5.9	oil	7.3
Source: gtai

Development of foreign trade
in billion euros and its change compared to the previous year in%
	2016		2017		2018
	Billion euros	% yoy	Billion euros	% yoy	bbillion Euro	% year-on-year
import	281.6	−0.1	312.2	10.8	329.0	5.4
export	261.2	2.9	282.4	8.1	292.2	3.4
balance	−20.4		−29.8		−36.8
Source: gtai

State budget

The state budget in 2016 comprised expenditures of 512 billion dollars compared to revenues of 461 billion dollars. This results in a budget deficit of $ 51 billion or 4.1% of GDP . The national debt was 99.3% of GDP in 2014. Various austerity programs reduced the budget deficit from 11.0 percent in 2009 to 4.1 in 2016. The state 's government bonds are rated A− by the rating agency Standard & Poor’s (as of 2018). Due to the falling budget deficit and the improved economic situation, the Spanish state was able to improve its creditworthiness again.

year	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
National debt	42.3%	38.9%	35.5%	39.4%	52.7%	60.1%	69.5%	85.4%	93.7%	100.4%
Budget balance	1.2%	2.2%	2.0%	−4.4%	−11.0%	−9.4%	−9.5%	−10.4%	−6.9%	−5.9%
year	2015	2016	2017	2018
National debt	99.4%	99.0%	98.3%	97.1%
Budget balance	−5.3%	−4.5%	−3.1%	−2.5%
Source: Eurostat

Unions

The two largest trade union confederations

• Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and
• Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CC.OO.)

are members of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

The number of members in the individual unions belonging to the UGT is given as 880,000 members, for the CC: OO with 800,000 (as of November 2017).

Culture

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616) is considered the national poet of Spain

Well-known cultural workers in Spain

• Literature: Miguel de Cervantes , Tirso de Molina , Lope de Vega , Pedro Calderón de la Barca , Francisco de Quevedo , Baltasar Gracián , Rosalía do Castro , José Zorrilla , Federico García Lorca , Camilo José Cela
• Music: Tomás Luis de Victoria , Antonio de Cabezón , Flamenco , Isaac Albéniz , Manuel de Falla , Andrés Segovia , Paco de Lucía , Joaquín Rodrigo , Ernesto Halffter
• Film: Luis Buñuel , Carlos Saura , Pedro Almodóvar , Fernando Trueba , Alejandro Amenábar , Juan Antonio Bardem
• Painting: Francisco de Zurbarán , Diego Velázquez , Bartolomé Esteban Murillo , Alonso Cano , Francisco de Goya , Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida , Pablo Picasso , Salvador Dalí , Antoni Tàpies
• Sculpture: Joan Miró , Eduardo Chillida , José Álvarez Cubero , Julio González
• Architecture: Antoni Gaudí , Santiago Calatrava , César Manrique , Ricardo Bofill , Juan Bautista de Toledo , Rafael Moneo
• Fashion and clothing: Cristóbal Balenciaga , Manolo Blahnik , Amaya Arzuaga , Custo Dalmau , Paco Rabanne , Mantilla
• Spanish Kitchen

Spanish feature film production

year	1975	1985	1995	2005	2015
number	110	77	59	142	255

Bullfight

A typical Spanish spectacle is the bullfight . According to his followers, it should be seen as an art in which elegance and aesthetics play an important role. In the eyes of many critics, it represents an archaic and brutal tradition that, due to the cruelty to animals involved, is not worth continuing in its current form. Bullfighting is now banned in both the Canary Islands and Catalonia.

See also : Spanish Literature  and List of Corrales de comedias in Spain

media

Spanish speaking media scene

→ Main article : Newspapers in Spain

Most of the national daily newspapers appear in the capital Madrid : El País (average circulation in 2003 around 561,000 copies, belongs to the PRISA media group ), El Mundo (379,000), ABC (346,000) and La Razón (205,000). La Vanguardia (240,000) and the important regional Catalan newspaper El Periódic (221,000; also in Spanish as El Periódico ) appear in Barcelona . Daily sports media such as Marca (549,000) and As (303,000) are also important. Most Spaniards read regional newspapers, almost every major city in the country has an offer here, for example Diario de Sevilla or Diario de Mallorca .

Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE) is the public broadcaster in Spain. This includes the television station Televisión Española (TVE). This operates the programs La 1 , La 2 and the international service TVE Internacional and a few other special interest channels. Public broadcasting (television and radio) is subsidized by the state. Private television programs are Antena 3 , Telecinco as well as Cuatro since November 7, 2005 and LaSexta since March 27 of the same year . The range of television programs is rounded off by regional television stations. In the area of digital television, there are the Digital + and Auna offers . The formerly partly free to air channel Canal + , which has been replaced by Cuatro , has been added to the Digital + offer.

See also : Radio in Spain

German-speaking media scene

→ Main article : German-language foreign media

In the meantime, a considerable independent media scene has emerged to supply the numerous German-speaking people who are long-term (residents) or short-term (tourists) in Spain. The publications include several weekly newspapers with a circulation of over 20,000 copies as well as community letters, German studies journals or business magazines. Well-known papers are, for example, the Mallorca-Magazin or the Mallorca-Zeitung . On Mallorca, where a new minority with permanent residents of German descent is emerging, there is also the most famous full-time German-speaking radio program with Inselradio Mallorca . The “TaschenSpiegel” is published for Germans, Austrians and Swiss resident in Barcelona. Along with Italy, the USA, Poland, Romania and Belgium, Spain is one of the countries with the most German-language media outside of the closed German-speaking area.

Sports

Even if organized physical exercises have been practiced in Spain since Roman times, it was, especially in the Franco era, top-class sport in the sense of bread and games. After Franco's death, popular and recreational sport expanded very seriously.

The Spanish national soccer team after winning the European Championship in 2008

In Spain, football is by far the most important public sport and also a popular sport that is widely practiced. The most famous clubs are Real Madrid and FC Barcelona , which are among the most successful football clubs in Europe. Other well-known clubs are Valencia CF , Atlético Madrid , Athletic Bilbao , Real Saragossa and Sevilla FC . The national team has won three European championships so far , in 1964 in their own country, in 2008 in Austria and Switzerland and in 2012 in Poland and the Ukraine . In 1920, the Spanish soccer team won second place at the Olympic Games in Antwerp, which caused a great deal of euphoria. In 2010 Spain became world champions for the first time.

Other popular team sports are basketball , handball , hockey , futsal , volleyball and water polo , and rugby is also very popular at universities . Roller hockey is also practiced in large numbers in the regions of Catalonia and Galicia .

The Spanish national rugby union team , 2009

The Spanish national team qualified for a Rugby Union World Cup for the first time in 1999 , but the tournament ended up in last place in the group stage. Spain is one of the participants in the European Rugby Union Championship , where it meets other emerging national teams. The home stadium is the Estadio Nacional Universidad Complutense in Madrid.

Also racing is very popular in Spain. When it comes to racing for street motorcycles , the country produced international stars such as Ángel Nieto , Jorge Martínez “Aspar” and Àlex Crivillé . The most famous active drivers at the moment are Dani Pedrosa , Jorge Lorenzo , Álvaro Bautista , Toni Elías , Julián Simón , Marc Márquez and Nicolás Terol , all of whom have already won world titles. The Spanish motorcycle manufacturer Derbi won twelve drivers 'world championships and nine constructors' championships, while the Bultaco brand won four drivers 'and three constructors' championships. Other popular motor sports are rally , rally raid and motorcycle trial .

The Formula 1 had long a shadowy existence in Spain, but this changed abruptly by the success of Fernando Alonso , the 2005 and 2006 won the World Cup.

Cycling is very popular both as a popular sport and as a professional sport. With Miguel Indurain , Federico Bahamontes , Luis Ocaña Pernía , Pedro Delgado , Óscar Pereiro , Alberto Contador and Carlos Sastre , Spain has seven Tour de France winners. The multiple world champion Óscar Freire is also well known. A major cycling event is the Vuelta , other internationally recognized races are the Basque Country Tour , the Tour of Catalonia and the Clásica San Sebastián .

The most important individual sport is tennis . The internationally best-known players include Manuel Santana , Carlos Moyá , Sergi Bruguera , Arantxa Sánchez Vicario , Conchita Martínez or the still active Rafael Nadal and Garbiñe Muguruza . So far, Spain has won the Davis Cup five times, the Fed Cup as often and the Hopman Cup four times.

Also popular are padel , a relatively new game similar to tennis, and golf , where well-known professionals such as Severiano Ballesteros , José María Olazábal or Sergio García are to be mentioned. Pelota , the Basque national sport , is played in northeastern Spain and Pilota Valenciana in the Valencia region .

In addition to professional sport, amateur sport is very important in Spain. Almost half of the population between the ages of 15 and 75 are actively involved in a sport. Fitness training, such as jogging, is the most popular sport before football and swimming. But cycling and walking are also becoming increasingly popular in Spain.

National Holidays

Members of the Guardia Civil in parade uniform on the national holiday

In Spain, 14 public holidays are defined for each year. Some of these are state-owned, some are determined by the autonomous community , a public holiday by the province (usually the patron saint of the province) and a holiday by the municipality or by the locality (usually the patron saint of the municipality). The holidays are published annually for the following year by each Autonomous Community and can vary. If a public holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is non-working, depending on the industry.

The following days are usually public holidays, but can be canceled or replaced depending on the year or autonomous community:

• January 1st - New Year (Año Nuevo)
• January 6th - Three Kings / Epiphany (Epifanía)
• March 19 - St. Joseph's Day (San José )
• March / April - Palm Sunday, Semana Santa begins on the Sunday before Easter in Spain
• March / April - Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo)
• March / April - Good Friday (Viernes Santo)
• March / April - Easter Sunday (Domingo de Pascua)
• May 1st - Labor Day (Primero de Mayo)
• July 25th - St. James the Elder , patron saint of Spain (Santiago)
• August 15 - Assumption Day (Fiesta de la Asunción)
• October 12th - National Day (Día de la Hispanidad / El Pilar) , on the occasion of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus
• November 1st - All Saints' Day (Todos los Santos)
• December 6th - Constitution Day (Día de la Constitución) , on the occasion of the adoption of the Constitution in 1978
• December 8th - Immaculate Conception (Inmaculada Concepción)
• December 25th - Christmas (Navidad)

Example for regional holidays:

• March / April - Easter Monday (Lunes de Pascua) for example in the Basque Country
• May 2nd - public holiday , only in the Madrid region (uprising of the people of Madrid against the French occupation in 1808)
• April 28th - San Prudencio in the province of Álava (patron saint of the province)
• May 15 - San Isidro in the city of Madrid (patron saint of the city)
• May 30th - Día de Canarias , Canary Islands only
• June 24 - St. John's Day (Revetlla de Sant Joan), holiday only in Catalonia , in Spain are on St. John , however, ignited the bonfire
• October 9th - only in the Comunidad Valencia , commemoration of the liberation from the Moorish rule
• December 26th - St. Stephen's Day (Sant Esteve), only in Catalonia

See also

• 

  Portal: Spain  - Overview of Wikipedia content on Spain
• Spanish name
• Postcode (Spain)
• Regional and local elections in Spain 2015

literature

• Walther L. Bernecker (ed.): Spain manual. History and present. Francke, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-8252-2827-4 (UTB 2827).
• Walther L. Bernecker (Ed.): Spain today. Politics - economy - culture. 5th edition. Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 3-86527-418-8 .
• Toni Breuer: Iberian Peninsula. Geography, history, economics, politics. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-534-14785-4 .
• Fernando Diaz-Plaja: Spain. Nyon 1976.
• Alfonso Lowe: Spain's south. Munich 1972.
• René Alexander Marboe: From Burgos to Cuzco. Becoming Spain 530–1530. Magnus, Essen 2006, ISBN 3-88400-601-0 .
• Henri Stierlin: The World of Spain. Gondrom, Bayreuth 1982, ISBN 3-8112-0301-0 (historical presentation with the focus from classical antiquity to the baroque).
• Sarah Mongourdin-Denoix: Spain: a country profile (PDF, 640.33 kB, 40 pages), Eurofound , January 19, 2010
• James Morris: Spain. Portrait of a proud country. With photographs by Evelyn Hofer. Droemer Knaur, Munich (= Knaur pocket books. Volume 176).

Web links

Commons : Spain  - collection of images

Wikimedia Atlas: Spain  - geographical and historical maps

Wikiquote: Spanish Proverbs  - Quotes

Wiktionary: Spain  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

 Wikinews: Spain  - in the news

Wikisource: Spain  - Sources and full texts

Wikivoyage: Spain  Travel Guide

Official sites from Spain

• casareal.es
• ccape.es: German Chamber of Commerce for Spain
• congreso.es: Congreso de los Diputados
• guiadeayuntamientos.info (information about all Spanish municipalities, Spanish)
• mae.es: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación de España ("Ministry of Foreign Affairs")
• madrid.diplo.de: German Embassy Madrid
• senado.es: El Senado de España
• spanischebotschaft.de: Spanish Embassy in Germany

About Spain

• Database of indexed literature on the social, political and economic situation in Spain
• cibera.de (Virtual Library Ibero-America / Spain / Portugal)
• Country profile of the Federal Statistical Office
• Deutschlandfunk.de , Das Feature , October 20, 2015, Barbara Eisenmann : Made with love in Spain. From the political upheaval in Spain.
• diplo.de: Country and travel information from the Federal Foreign Office
• geotoura.com (Spain encyclopedia and current cultural tips, German)
• saz-aktuell.com (Spain's General Newspaper, German)
• spanien-bilder.com (Spain Pictures and News, German)
• strandgazette.com (News from Spain, German)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ European Union ( Eurostat ): Spain - country information , as of 2014.
2. ↑ population, total. In: World Economic Outlook Database. World Bank , 2020, accessed April 10, 2021 . 
3. ↑ Population growth (annual%). In: World Economic Outlook Database. World Bank , 2020, accessed April 10, 2021 . 
4. ^ World Economic Outlook Database April 2021. In: World Economic Outlook Database. International Monetary Fund , 2021, accessed June 27, 2021 . 
5. ↑ Table: Human Development Index and its components . In: United Nations Development Program (ed.): Human Development Report 2020 . United Nations Development Program, New York, pp. 343 ( undp.org [PDF]).
6. ↑ de.statista.com
7. ↑ World Tourism Organization (ed.): International Tourism Highlights 2020 Edition . Madrid 2021, ISBN 978-92-844-2245-6 , p. 8 (English, e-unwto.org [PDF]).
8. ↑ ^{a b} Cramer, W. et al. (2018). Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean. Nature Climate Change, 8, 972-980. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0299-2
9. ↑ ^{a b} dw.com
10. ↑ J.-F. Bastin et al .: Understanding climate change from a global analysis of city analogues. In: PLoS One. No. 14 (7), 2019, e0217592. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217592
11. ↑ Así se salvó al lince ibérico de su desaparición. In: El País . February 17, 2018, accessed February 18, 2018 . 
12. ↑ World Population Prospects 2017. In: Population Division. United Nations, accessed January 31, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Overall fertility rate. In: Eurostat , accessed on 31 January 2019.
14. ^ The World Factbook. In: Library. Central Intelligence Agency, accessed January 31, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Luxembourg is bursting with happiness. (No longer available online.) In: Tageblatt . March 20, 2014, archived from the original on April 24, 2014 ; accessed on March 27, 2014 . 
16. ↑ Measuring the quality of life in the EU. (PDF; 50 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Eurostat . March 19, 2014, archived from the original on March 26, 2014 ; accessed on March 27, 2014 . 
17. ↑ Healthy life years and life expectancy at birth, by gender. In: Eurostat . Retrieved March 27, 2014 . 
18. ↑ La población mayor de 80 años creció and 66% en los últimos 15 años y suma dos millones de personas. Aumenta la esperanza de vida, que alcanza los 79.7 años. El Pais, June 19, 2007, accessed May 3, 2011 (Spanish, life expectancy in Spain). 
19. ↑ World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved July 15, 2017 . 
20. ↑ In 2011, two thirds of working-age adults in the EU28 stated that they could speak a foreign language. (PDF; 133 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Eurostat . September 26, 2013, archived from the original on January 18, 2014 ; Retrieved September 29, 2013 . 
21. ^ "Instituto Nacional de Estadística" , accessed on May 12, 2016.
22. ↑ Coloniality, Decoloniality and Decolonial Aesthetics Heimatkunde.boell.de, accessed on April 14, 2019
23. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadística: Cifras de Población (CP) a 1 de julio de 2019. (PDF) In: Instituto Nacional de Estadística . Retrieved May 20, 2020 (Spanish). 
24. ↑ Foreign nationals made up 6.5% of the EU27 population in 2010. (PDF; 141 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Eurostat . Archived from the original on January 17, 2012 ; accessed on July 17, 2011 . 
25. ^ Concesiones de nacionalidad española por residencia. (XLS; 5 MB) In: Spanish Ministry of Labor and Social Security. May 29, 2015, Retrieved December 8, 2015 (Spanish). 
26. ↑ Acquisition of citizenship by gender, age group and previous citizenship. In: Eurostat . March 11, 2019, accessed May 3, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Data from January 1, 2016
28. ↑ Estadística del Padrón de Españoles Residentes en el Extranjero a 1 de enero de 2016. (PDF; 90.2 kB) In: INE . March 17, 2016, Retrieved March 28, 2016 (Spanish). 
29. ↑ España ya no es El Dorado. In: El País . April 22, 2013, Retrieved April 5, 2014 (Spanish). 
30. ↑ Jürgen Erbacher: Heavy Mission in Catholic Spain ( Memento from May 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) . heute.de. July 7, 2006.
31. ↑ ^{a b} Barometro June 2015 on CIS , June 2015, accessed on July 28, 2015 (Spanish)
32. ↑ El nuevo sistema de asignación tributaria en favor de la iglesia católica. (PDF) (No longer available online.) In: Spanish Bishops' Conference . Archived from the original on March 31, 2010 ; Retrieved February 17, 2010 (Spanish). 
33. ↑ El number de declaraciones a favor de la Iglesia Católica vuelve a aumentar en 2009. (No longer available online.) In: Spanish Bishops' Conference . February 17, 2010, archived from the original on July 26, 2010 ; Retrieved February 17, 2010 (Spanish). 
34. ↑ Asignación tributaria, Declaración de la Renta 2009 (PDF) (Not available online.) In: Spanish Episcopal Conference . February 17, 2010, archived from the original on March 31, 2010 ; Retrieved February 17, 2010 (Spanish). 
35. ↑ www.agpd.es ( Memento from June 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
36. ↑ Spain - Catholic for all eternity. In: sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2010, accessed December 10, 2014 . 
37. ↑ pewglobal.org ( Memento from March 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
38. ↑ Religious and Spiritual Belief , Federal Agency for Civic Education, last seen on October 29, 2016.
39. ↑ Special Eurobarometer pdf. , last seen on October 29, 2016 (PDF).
40. ↑ Estudio de la población demográfico Musulmana. (PDF) December 31, 2016, accessed January 10, 2018 (Spanish). 
41. ↑ Statistical evaluation. (No longer available online.) In: Instituto Nacional de Estadística . Archived from the original on June 14, 2015 ; accessed on January 22, 2010 (English). 
42. ^ Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. (Spanish Statistical Office). Accessed July 31, 2019 . 
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119. ↑ gross domestic product. Retrieved September 28, 2019 . 
120. ↑ gross domestic product per capita. Retrieved September 28, 2019 . 
121. ↑ inflation rate. Retrieved September 28, 2019 . 
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     For the UGT different numbers (1,057,700) from Daniel Blackburn, Ciaran Cross: Trade unions of the world . International Center for Trade Union Rights, London 2016, ISBN 978-0-9933556-0-8 , pp. 531-537, there also further information
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132. ^ La Vanguardia, June 29, 2011, 11
133. ^ Arnd Krüger : Strength through joy. The culture of consent under fascism, Nazism and Francoism, in: James Riordan & Arnd Krüger (Eds.): The International Politics of Sport in the 20th Century. London: Spon 1999, pp. 67-89.
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135. ↑ Kersten Knipp: Flamenco. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-518-45824-8 , p. 130.
136. ↑ The ten most popular sports in Spain

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