Spain
Basic information
- Area: 504,030 km²
- Calling code: +34
- Population (EST): 45,200,737
- Official language: Spanish, Aranese, Basque, Catalan/Valencian and Galician
- Time zone: CET (UTC+1)
Overview
Spain is situated in southwestern Europe, sharing the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, and is separated from France by the Pyrenees mountain range. It has a total population of just over 40 million people (July 2006 est.) according to the CIA World Fact book, and is comprised of 17 regions, plus the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands, and three small territories off the coast of Morocco. After around half a millennia of Islamic rule, what we understand to be modern Spain gradually came into being at the end of the 1400s. Over the following centuries Spain built an empire that at times encompassed much of the Americas, parts of Africa and as Far East as the Philippines. However, by the end of the 1800s, the empire was all but dissolved. The first three quarters of the 20th century saw two periods of dictatorial rule, finally ending in 1975 with the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco and the re-instatement of the monarchy. Over more than 30 years, Spain`s economy has recovered to the point where it is now among the top ten global economies. In July 2006, the World Bank published figures from its World Development Indicators database (2005), based on Total GDP Spain was ranked in 8th place and in fifth place in Europe. The country joined the (then) European Community in 1986, and over the last decade its economy has consistently out-performed those of its main EU rivals. According to figures published by UK Government's Trade & Investment organisation, Spain's overall per capita GDP is approximately 84 per cent of the EU average, while areas such as Madrid and Barcelona have a per capita GDP much higher than the EU average. The country's unemployment rate is high, at more than 11 per cent, but approximately 2.9 million new jobs have been created since 1996. Spain's major trading partners include France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Portugal, the USA, Belgium and Japan.
