Page last modified 18 August 2023

Spain

Community

Area 492,592 square kilometres (mainland Spain).� 506,030 square kilometres (land area 499,600 square kilometres) including the Balearic and Canary Islands, and the North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. In 2017 the regional government of Catalonia, Spain�s wealthiest region, held a contentious referendum on independence that was declared illegal by the central government in Madrid; furthermore the potential new State failed to win the backing of the EU, or any other country. Boycotted by most anti-independence voters, the referendum produced a huge majority for independence but on a minority turnout. The controversy is ongoing, end-2017.

Population (within 2020 borders),

6,000,000 (AD 1)

4,000,000 (AD 350)

3,600,000 (AD 600)

4,000,000 (AD 800)

7,000,000 (1000)

8,000,000 (1200)

9,500,000 (1340)

8,300,000 (1500)

8,206,791 (1594)*

6,500,000 (1650)*

7,500,000 (1717)

9,307,804 (1768)

10,268,150 (1787)

10,541,221 (1797)

13,400,000 (1800)

15,464,340 (1857)

15,655,467 (1860)

16,631,869 (1877)

17,550,246 (1887)

18,089,500 (1897)

19,927,150 (1910)

21,303,162 (1920)

23,563,867 (1930)

25,877,971 (1940)

27,976,755 (1950)

30,455,000 (1960)

33,815,000 (1970)

37,491,000 (1980)

38,867,000 (1990)

40,568,000 (2000)

46,577,000 (2010)

46,445,000 (2015)

46,724,000 (2018)

*Warfare, emigration and economic decline caused a fall in population during the 16^th century.

Ethnicity, % A - P

	Argentina	Colombia	Ecuador	France	Germany	Morocco	Portugal
1930	0.1			0.1			0.1
2001		0.5	0.6		0.3	0.8
2005		0.6	1.1			1.1

Ethnicity, % R - U

	Roma	Romania	Spanish	West Indies	UK
1930			99.3	0.1
1992			99.1
2001			97.7		0.3
2005		0.7	91.5		0.5
2007	1.6		87.9

Religion, %

	Christian Other	Christian R C	Muslim Sunni	Jewish	No religion
1490				2.5
1970		99.5
1990		95.0
2007		92.0	2.4	0.1
2017	2.3	70.2			25.0

Birth and death rates Below replacement rate = 2.1

	Fertility Rate	Birth Rate	Infant Mortality	Death Rate	Aged Under 15	Aged Over 65	% Urban
1600							20.0
1700							10.0*
1770		43.8
1800		42.3
1865		37.8 (+7.2)		30.6
1890		36.9 (+5.5)		31.4
1900		34.8 (+7.0)	204.0	27.8
1912		31.2 (+9.0)		22.2
1930	2.6	27.0 (+10.7)	113.0	16.3
1940	2.6	21.7 (+7.3)		14.4
1944			93.0
1950	2.2	20.0 (+10.0)		10.0	27.1	7.3	48.7
1960	2.9	22.0 (+13.4)	38.4	8.6	27.4	8.2	56.6
1970	2.8	20.0 (+11.7)	20.7	8.3	28.1	9.6	66.0
1980	2.2	15.0 (+7.3)	12.3	7.7	25.9	11.1	72.8
1990	1.3	10.0 (+1.3)	7.4	8.7	20.0	13.4	75.4
2000	1.2	10.0 (+1.1)	4.3	8.9	14.8	16.7	76.3
2010	1.4	10.4 (+2.2)	3.1	8.2	14.6	17.2	78.4
2015	1.3	9.0 (0.0)	2.8	9.0	14.9	18.9	79.6
2017	1.3	8.4 (-0.6)	2.6	9.0
2018			2.5		14.7	19.4	80.3

*Spain suffered major economic decline during the 1600s.

Life expectancy,

29.1 (1865)

34.8 (1900)

40.5 (1910)

61.2 (1950); 58.5 (M), 63.5 (F)

69.1 (1960); 66.7 (M), 71.7 (F)

72.0 (1970); 69.3 (M), 74.9 (F)

75.3 (1980); 72.3 (M), 78.5 (F)

77.0 (1990); 73.3 (M), 80.5 (F)

79.0 (2000); 75.6 (M), 82.5 (F)

81.6 (2010); 78.7 (M); 84.7 (F)

83.4 (2015); 80.6 (M), 86.3 (F)

83.6 (2020); 80.9 (M), 86.3 (F)

Population of principal cities, 1,000s MA = Metropolitan Area

	Alicante^1	Barcelona	MA	Bilbao	Granada	Las Palmas	MADRID
1000					26
1250	2.5
1350	3.3
1560							25
1610	5
1710	11
1750	14	70					123
1800	21						160
1850	27			15			263
1860	31			18			298
1864		190
1867		167*
1870				18			332
1887	40	272		51			460
1900	50	334	533	83	76	48	540
1930	71	1,006		162	118	79	963
1940	83	1,080		183	141	98	1,100
1950	104	1,277	1,425	216	154	154	1,528
1960	122						2,260
1970	185	1,745		410	190	287	3,146
1980	251	1,755		433	262	366	3,188
1990	261	1,626		369	254	342	2,910
2000	293	1,527		354	241	371	3,017
2007		1,600	4,900			377
2009			5,029			383	5,762 MA
2015	329	1,605	5,376	1,038 MA	238		6,530 MA

*Reduction following cholera epidemic

¹Alicante was built on the site of the Roman city of Lucentum, Alicante was captured by the Moors in 713 AD, and regained by James I of Aragon in 1265.

Population of principal cities, 1,000s� MA = Metropolitan Area

	Malaga	Murcia	Palma de Mallorca	Seville	Valencia	Zaragoza
1000	15				15	17
1500				66
1565				100
1588				150
1750				68*	60
1850					110	67
1860	113	109
1878				133		171
1890			59	145
1900	130	112	64	150	214	90
1930	188	158		229	320	174
1940			97	270	410	206
1950	275	218		374	504	244
1960	301		165	443		430
1970	374	243	234	548	654	480
1980	503	289	304	654	752	591
1990	512	319	297	659	753	586
2000	536	378	358	704	812	620
2010		502 MA	621 MA	1,520 MA	1,570 MA
2015	1,629 MA					661

*Major decline in Spanish economy due to costs of warfare.

Wealth; Gross Domestic Product (nominal values)

	GDP, US$ million	Total GDP, % of USA	GDP per capita, US$	GDP per capita % of USA
1948	5,063	2.27	182	11.93
1956	10.200	2.85
1960	12,100	2.23	400	13.30
1965	24,700	3.32	775	20.25
1970	38,300	3.68	1,210	23.06
1975	110,510	6.76	3,106	39.72
1980	221,230	7.91	5,905	46.87
1985	171,850	4.08	4,479	24.52
1990	509,960	8.79	13,153	54.91
1995	584.190	0.01	14,893	49.53
2000	560,080	5.62	14,700	40.33
2005	1,123.700	0.01	26,500	59.81
2010	1,400,000	9.36	30,735	63.54
2015	1,190,000	6.60	25,640	45.62
2016	1,230,000	6.62	26,525	46.16

GDP by primary sector

	Agriculture % GDP	Agriculture % employed	Industry % GDP	Industry % employed	Services % GDP	Services % employed
1900		68.0		14.0		18.0
1910		64.0
1920		59.0
1930		47.0
1940		52.0
1950		50.0
1960		41.7		31.0		26.5
1970	13.0	29.1	43.0		42.5	33.6
1980		14.0		40.0		45.0
1990	4.5	12.0	35.5	33.0	59.5	55.0
2000	3.4	7.0	30.1	29.0	66.5	64.0
2010	3.3	4.2	25.8	24.0	70.9	71.7
2016	2.6		23.4		74.1

Communications

Language Basque, Spanish (Catalan), Official, Spanish (Castilian)

Basque, 3.0% (1990)

Galician, 4.0% (1990)

Spanish (Castilian), 71.0% (1990)

Spanish (Catalan), 21.0% (1990)

Literacy

30.0% (1900)

57.7% (1943)

79,2% (1947)

87.0% (1960)

92.9% (1988); 96.0% (M), 90.1% (F)

97.7% (2000); 98.6% (M), 96.9% (F)

99.9% (2010 and afterwards)

Physical communications � road, railway

	Roads (km)	Surfaced (km)	Motor vehicles	Cars	Commercial Vehicles
1944	128,503
1947				90,562	51,313
1950				100,000	65,000
1956		75,000	263,000	152,500
1961	131,239			347,900	175,300
1964			948,800
1966		80,563		2,900,000
1976	143,000			7,200,000
1983		123,788			1,444,884
1986		178,100	12,475,000	9,500,000	1,975,800
2000				11,996,000
1992					2,495,000
1996			19,542,100	14,754,000	3,057,000
2000	664,000	640,000		17,449,000	3,800,000
2003				18,688,300
2007			27,174,000	21.760,200	5,140,000
2010	681,298		27,513,000	22,147,000
2011	683,175	683,175	27,596,000	22,277,000
2015				22,356,000

Railways; First railway opened 28/10/1848, from Barcelona to Mataro, 29 km. The Madrid to Aranjuez line opened 9/2/1851. From 1855 railway construction accelerated, using French capital. Majorca once possessed 80km (1908) of railway.

Length, kilometres

29 (1850)

1,860 (1860)

5,284 (1870)

6,973 (1880)

9,021 (1890)

10,845 (1900)

11,169 (1910)

11,249 (1920)

11,822 (1930)

11,858 (1940)

12,816 (1950)

18,092 (1958) (10.8% e)

18,942 (1966) (26.9% e)

13,500 (1986) (44.4% e)

13,200 (1996) (51.0% e)

13,868 (2000) (54.2% e)

12,808 (2005)

14,800 (2007)

15,293 (2010)

16,102 (2014) (59.8% e)

Urban metro systems, kilometres (year opened)

	Barcelona (1924)	Bilbao (1995)	Madrid (1919)	Palma de Mallorca (2007)	Seville (2009)	Valencia (1988)
1991	72.0		112.0			113.0
1995		26.0
2000	81.0	28.0	121.0			118.0
2003	102.0	36.0	228.0
2010	116.0	38.2	284.0	8.3	18.1	156.4
2012			286.0
2015	144.3	43.3	293.0	15.6	18.1	156.4

Electronic communications, TV broadcasting began 1956 (colour from 1974)

	Telephones (landlines)	Mobile Telephones	Radios 1,000s	Televisions 1,000s	PCs 1,000s	Internet Users
1938	281,418		800
1945	433,738
1950			887
1951	667,639
1960	1,628,429		2,717
1961				40
1962	2,082,001
1975	4,698,000
1980	7,229,000		9,800	9,600
1986		1,700	11,500	12,500
1988					700
1990	12,603,000	54,700	12,000	15,500	1,100
1995		945,000	12,450		2,400	2,247,000
2000	17,104,000	24,265,000	13,500	22,000	7,000
2002						7,890,000
2005		41,328,000			12,000	15,120,000
2010	19,904,000					29,500,000
2016	19,557,141	51,943,000				39,124,000
2017						40,148,000

Tourism: Visitors to Spain,

749,000 (1950)

8,113,000 (1960)

13,000,000 (1964)

15,000,000 (1965)

22,600,000 (1970)

38,000,000 (1980)

34,085,000 (1990)

32,971,000 (1995)

46,403,000 (2000)

55,914,000 (2005)

52,677,000 (2010)

68,215,000 (2015)

75,600,000 (2016)