{ "Introduction": { "Background": { "text": "
Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World War I and II but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). A peaceful transition to democracy following the death of dictator Francisco FRANCO in 1975, and rapid economic modernization (Spain joined the EU in 1986) gave Spain a dynamic and rapidly growing economy, and made it a global champion of freedom and human rights. More recently, Spain has emerged from a severe economic recession that began in mid-2008, posting solid years of GDP growth above the EU average. Unemployment has fallen but remains high, especially among youth. Spain is the euro-zone's fourth-largest economy. The country has faced increased domestic turmoil in recent years due to the independence movement in its restive Catalonia region.
" } }, "Geography": { "Location": { "text": "Southwestern Europe, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, and Pyrenees Mountains; southwest of France" }, "Geographic coordinates": { "text": "40 00 N, 4 00 W" }, "Map references": { "text": "Europe" }, "Area": { "total": { "text": "505,370 sq km" }, "land": { "text": "498,980 sq km" }, "water": { "text": "6,390 sq km" }, "note": "note: there are two autonomous cities - Ceuta and Melilla - and 17 autonomous communities including Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, and three small Spanish possessions off the coast of Morocco - Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera" }, "Area - comparative": { "text": "almost five times the size of Kentucky; slightly more than twice the size of Oregon" }, "Land boundaries": { "total": { "text": "1,952.7 km" }, "border countries": { "text": "Andorra 63 km; France 646 km; Gibraltar 1.2 km; Portugal 1,224 km; Morocco (Ceuta) 8 km and Morocco (Melilla) 10.5 km" }, "note": "note: an additional 75-meter border segment exists between Morocco and the Spanish exclave of Penon de Velez de la Gomera" }, "Coastline": { "text": "4,964 km" }, "Maritime claims": { "territorial sea": { "text": "12 nm" }, "contiguous zone": { "text": "24 nm" }, "exclusive economic zone": { "text": "200 nm (applies only to the Atlantic Ocean)" } }, "Climate": { "text": "temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast" }, "Terrain": { "text": "large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills; Pyrenees Mountains in north" }, "Elevation": { "highest point": { "text": "Pico de Teide (Tenerife) on Canary Islands 3,718 m" }, "lowest point": { "text": "Atlantic Ocean 0 m" }, "mean elevation": { "text": "660 m" } }, "Natural resources": { "text": "coal, lignite, iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, uranium, tungsten, mercury, pyrites, magnesite, fluorspar, gypsum, sepiolite, kaolin, potash, hydropower, arable land" }, "Land use": { "agricultural land": { "text": "54.1% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: arable land": { "text": "arable land: 24.9% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent crops": { "text": "permanent crops: 9.1% (2018 est.)" }, "agricultural land: permanent pasture": { "text": "permanent pasture: 20.1% (2018 est.)" }, "forest": { "text": "36.8% (2018 est.)" }, "other": { "text": "9.1% (2018 est.)" } }, "Irrigated land": { "text": "37,593 sq km (2020)" }, "Major rivers (by length in km)": { "text": "Tagus river source (shared with Portugal [m]) - 1,006periodic droughts, occasional flooding
volcanism: volcanic activity in the Canary Islands, located off Africa's northwest coast; Teide (3,715 m) has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; La Palma (2,426 m), which last erupted in 1971, is the most active of the Canary Islands volcanoes; Lanzarote is the only other historically active volcano
" }, "Geography - note": { "text": "strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar; Spain controls a number of territories in northern Morocco including the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas; Spain's Canary Islands are one of four North Atlantic archipelagos that make up Macaronesia; the others are Azores (Portugal), Madeira (Portugal), and Cabo Verde" } }, "People and Society": { "Population": { "text": "47,222,613 (2023 est.)" }, "Nationality": { "noun": { "text": "Spaniard(s)" }, "adjective": { "text": "Spanish" } }, "Ethnic groups": { "text": "Spanish 84.8%, Moroccan 1.7%, Romanian 1.2%, other 12.3% (2021 est.)", "note": "note: data represent population by country of birth" }, "Languages": { "Languages": { "text": "Castilian Spanish (official nationwide) 74%, Catalan (official in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community (where it is known as Valencian)) 17%, Galician (official in Galicia) 7%, Basque (official in the Basque Country and in the Basque-speaking area of Navarre) 2%, Aranese (official in the northwest corner of Catalonia (Vall d'Aran) along with Catalan, <5,000 speakers); note - Aragonese, Aranese Asturian, Basque, Calo, Catalan, Galician, and Valencian are recognized as regional languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" }, "major-language sample(s)": { "text": "a mixture of both publicly operated and privately owned TV and radio stations; overall, hundreds of TV channels are available including national, regional, local, public, and international channels; satellite and cable TV systems available; multiple national radio networks, a large number of regional radio networks, and a larger number of local radio stations; overall, hundreds of radio stations
(2019)" }, "Internet country code": { "text": ".es" }, "Internet users": { "total": { "text": "44.18 million (2021 est.)" }, "percent of population": { "text": "94% (2021 est.)" } }, "Broadband - fixed subscriptions": { "total": { "text": "16,188,502 (2020 est.)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "35 (2020 est.)" } } }, "Transportation": { "National air transport system": { "number of registered air carriers": { "text": "21 (2020)" }, "inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers": { "text": "552" }, "annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers": { "text": "80,672,105 (2018)" }, "annual freight traffic on registered air carriers": { "text": "1.117 billion (2018) mt-km" } }, "Civil aircraft registration country code prefix": { "text": "EC" }, "Airports": { "text": "363 (2024)" }, "Heliports": { "text": "121 (2024)" }, "Pipelines": { "text": "10,481 km gas, 358 km oil, 4,378 km refined products (2017)" }, "Railways": { "total": { "text": "15,489 km (2020) 9,953 km electrified" } }, "Roadways": { "total": { "text": "150,110 km (2021)" } }, "Waterways": { "text": "1,000 km (2012)" }, "Merchant marine": { "total": { "text": "503 (2023)" }, "by type": { "text": "bulk carrier 1, general cargo 33, oil tanker 24, other 445" } }, "Ports and terminals": { "major seaport(s)": { "text": "Spain-Andorra: none identified
Spain-France: none identified
Spain-Gibraltar (UK): in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to reject any \"shared sovereignty\" arrangement; the Government of Gibraltar insists on equal participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain does not recognize British sovereignty beyond the original fortified perimeter of the city and disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; after voters in the UK chose to leave the EU in a June 2016 referendum, Spain again proposed shared sovereignty of Gibraltar; UK officials rejected Spain’s joint sovereignty proposal
Spain-Morocco: Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; both countries claim Isla Perejil (Leila Island), which remains unoccupied but was the site of a military standoff in 2002; Morocco serves as the primary embarkation area for illegal migration into mainland Spain from North Africa
Spain-Portugal: Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "refugees (country of origin)": { "text": "14,994 (Syria) (mid-year 2022); 438,400 (Venezuela) (economic and political crisis; includes Venezuelans who have claimed asylum, are recognized as refugees, or have received alternative legal stay) (2022); 192,390 (Ukraine) (as of 29 February 2024)" }, "stateless persons": { "text": "6,489 (2022)" }, "note": "note: 351,562 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals, including Canary Islands (January 2015-March 2024)" }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "a European transit point for cocaine from South America and for hashish from Morocco; cocaine is shipped in raw or liquid form with mixed cargo to avoid detection or altered to escape detection after which chemists within Spain extract and reconstitute any altered form of cocaine, preparing it for distribution within Europe; minor domestic drug production; occasionally synthetic drugs, including ketamine, new psychoactive substances (NPS), and MDMA transit through Spain to the United States
" } } }