Spain

Geography

Spain is located in south-western Europe on the Iberian Peninsula and borders Portugal to the west, France and Andorra to the north and Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. In the northwest, Spain is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The exclave of Ceuta is located on the African continent at the Mediterranean tip of Morocco.

Spain covers an area of around 505,935 km², making it the fourth largest country in Europe (excluding Russia). Despite the large area, the number of inhabitants is only 47.78 million, which corresponds to a population density of only 94.4 inhabitants per square kilometer. Large parts of the interior of the country are very sparsely populated. Around 81.3% of the population live in urban areas, which are mainly confined to the coastal regions and a few conurbations in the interior of the country. Madrid is by far the largest of these.

The Tabernas desert in the south-eastern province of Almería is the only desert in Europe and is known for its dry and barren landscape with rocky hills and sandy plains. In the north, the semi-desert Bardenas Reales extends over 42,000 hectares in the Navarra region. In the border region with France is the 430 km long and over 3400 meter high mountain range of the Pyrenees. The highest mountain in Spain is the Pico de Teide, which is located on the Canary Island of Tenerife at a height of 3,718 meters. The Canary Islands are a group of islands belonging to Spain, located around 1000 km southwest of the Spanish mainland off Morocco. Although they are geographically part of Africa, they are politically part of Europe.

Climate in Spain

Spain's location between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees in the north create different climate zones throughout the country. While Atlantic air in the west ensures mild temperatures all year round, it is much warmer along the Mediterranean with partly tropical humidity. Near the Mediterranean Sea, most of the precipitation falls in autumn. The northern mountain regions, on the other hand, are the coolest areas. It is considerably warmer on the Canary Islands, which are located about 1,000 km from the Spanish mainland on the coast of Africa. Here the climate is consistently subtropical and even in January it is rarely below 20°C during the day.

• Detailed climate data for Spain and 19 individual regions
• Volcanoes
• Earthquakes
• Tsunamis
• Hurricanes

Languages

Official languages:
Spanish (Castilian) throughout the country, as well as Catalan and Aranese in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, Valencian in Valencia and the Balearic Islands, Galician in Galicia, Basque in the Basque Country and parts of Navarre.

Mother tongue	Distribution
Spanish	74.0 %
Catalan	17.0 %
Galician	7.0 %
Basque	2.0 %

Religions

Religion	Distribution
Roman Catholics	58.0%
Muslims	4.0%
nondenominational	37.0%
other	1.0%

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Economy

GDP:	1,417.80 bn $
Exportations:	578.04 bn $
Importations:	561.49 bn $
Budget deficit:	67,156 M $
› Tourism receipts:	34.18 bn $
› Debt rate:	111.98 %
› Unemployment rate:	12.14 %
› Inflation rate:	8.39 %
› Corruption index:	60 (moderate)
› Energy consumption:	233.3 bn kWh

With a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.911, Spain counts as one of the high developed economies by UN definition. The IMF also shares this classification.

With an average annual income of 32,090 USD Spain is one of the high-income countries.

Land use

14% Urban areas:	69,795 km²
53% Agricultural areas:	265,666 km²
37% Forest:	188,056 km²
1% Water areas:	6,371 km²

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Transport

Roadways:	150,110 km
Railways:	15,489 km
Waterways:	1,000 km
Reg. vehicles:	29,707,581
› Airports: