Economy of Spain Currency Euro (EUR, €)1 euro = 166.386 Spanish peseta Calendar year Trade organisations
EU , WTO and OECD Country group
Population 48,946,035[ 5] GDP GDP rank GDP growth
6.4% (2021) [ 7]
5.8% (2022) [ 7]
2.5% (2023) [ 7]
2.9% (2024f) [ 7]
2.1% (2025f) [ 7]
1.8% (2026f) [ 7]
GDP per capita
$35,789 (nominal; 2024)[ 6]
$55,089 (PPP; 2024)[ 6]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
3.4% (June 2024)[ 9]
27% at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE 2023)[ 10]
31.5 medium (2023)[ 11] 60 out of 100 points (2023)[ 13] (36th )Labour force
24,107,955 (2023)[ 14]
70.5% employment rate (2023)[ 15]
Labour force by occupation
agriculture: 4%
industry: 24%
services: 72%
(2009)[ 16]
Unemployment
11.21% (October 2024)[ 17]
27% youth unemployment (15 to 24 year-olds; April 2024)[ 18]
Average gross salary
€2,471 per month€1,910 per monthMain industries
[ 19] [ 20] Exports $534 billion (2019 est.)[ 16] Export goods
Machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, medicines, other consumer goods Main export partners
Imports $463 billion (2019 est.)[ 16] Import goods
Fuels, chemicals, semi-finished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, machinery and equipment, measuring and medical control instruments Main import partners
$825 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[ 16]
Abroad: $777 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[ 16]
$30 billion (2019 est.)[ 16] $2.1 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)[ 16]
106.5% of GDP (2024)[ 21]
€1.6 trillion (Q2 2024)[ 22]
€35 billion deficit (2019)[ 23]
−2.8% of GDP (2019)[ 23]
Revenues 39% of GDP (2019)[ 23] Expenses 42% of GDP (2019)[ 23] Economic aid $79 billion (November 2020 est.)[ 16] All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars .
The economy of Spain is a highly developed social market economy .[ 29] It is the world's 15th largest by nominal GDP and the sixth-largest in Europe . Spain is a member of the European Union and the eurozone , as well as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization . In 2023, Spain was the 18th-largest exporter in the world. Meanwhile, in 2022, Spain was the 15th-largest importer in the world. Spain is listed 27th in the United Nations Human Development Index and 36th in GDP per capita by the World Bank . Some main areas of economic activity are the automotive industry , medical technology , chemicals , shipbuilding , tourism and the textile industry . Among OECD members, Spain has a highly efficient and strong social security system , which comprises roughly 23% of GDP .[ 4] [ 30] [ 3]
During the Great Recession , Spain's economy was also in a recession. Compared to the EU and US averages, the Spanish economy entered recession later, but stayed there longer. The boom of the 2000s was reversed, leaving over a quarter of Spain's workforce unemployed by 2012. In aggregate, GDP contracted almost 9% during 2009–2013.[ 31] In 2012, the government officially requested a credit from the European Stability Mechanism to restructure its banking sector in the face of the crisis.[ 32] The ESM approved assistance and Spain drew €41 billion. The ESM programme for Spain ended with the full repayment of the credit drawn 18 months later.[ 33]
The economic situation started improving by 2013. By then, Spain managed to reverse the record trade deficit which had built up during the boom years.[ 34] It attained a trade surplus in 2013, after three decades of running a deficit.[ 34] [ 35] In 2015, GDP grew by 3.2%: a rate not seen since 2007.[ 36] [ 37] In 2014–2015, the economy recovered 85% of the GDP lost during the 2009–2013 recession.[ 38] This success led some analysts to refer to Spain's recovery as "the showcase for structural reform efforts".[ 39] Spain's unemployment fell substantially from 2013 to 2017. Real unemployment is much lower, as millions work in the grey market , people who count as unemployed yet perform jobs.[ 40] Real Spanish GDP may be around 20% bigger, as it is assumed the underground economy is annually 190 billion Euros (US$224 billion).[ 41] Among high income European countries, only Italy and Greece are believed to have larger underground economies. Thus Spain may have higher purchasing power as well as a smaller gini coefficient [ 42] (inequality measure), than shown in official numbers.
The 2020 pandemic hit the Spanish economy with more intensity than other countries, as foreign tourism accounts for 5% of GDP. In the first quarter of 2023, it had fully recovered from the downturn, its GDP reaching pre-pandemic levels.[ 43] In 2023, Spain's economy grew 2.5%, bucking a downturn in the euro zone as a whole,[ 44] and is expected to grow at 3.1% in 2024, and 2.5% in 2025.[ 45]
^ "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019" . IMF.org . International Monetary Fund . Retrieved 29 September 2019 .
^ "World Bank Country and Lending Groups" . datahelpdesk.worldbank.org . World Bank . Retrieved 29 September 2019 .
^ a b "Social Expenditure – Aggregated data" . OECD .
^ a b Kenworthy, Lane (1999). "Do Social-Welfare Policies Reduce Poverty? A Cross-National Assessment" (PDF) . Social Forces . 77 (3): 1119–1139. doi :10.2307/3005973 . JSTOR 3005973 . Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2013.
^ "Continuous Population Statistics (CPS). 1st october 2024. Provisional data" . ine.es . Retrieved 7 November 2024 .
^ a b c d "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects: October 2024" . imf.org . International Monetary Fund .
^ a b c d e f "IMF Executive Board Concludes 2024 Article IV Consultation with Spain" . International Monetary Fund . 6 June 2024.
^ "INE" . Retrieved 20 December 2022 .
^ Cite error: The named reference INE-inflation
was invoked but never defined (see the help page ).
^ "People at risk of poverty or social exclusion" . ec.europa.eu/eurostat . Eurostat.
^ "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income - EU-SILC survey" . ec.europa.eu . Eurostat .
^ a b "Human Development Report 2023/2024" (PDF) . United Nations Development Programme . 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024 .
^ "Corruption Perceptions Index" . Transparency International . 30 January 2024. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024 .
^ "Labor force, total - Spain" . data.worldbank.org . World Bank . Retrieved 6 May 2022 .
^ "Employment rate by sex, age group 20-64" . ec.europa.eu/eurostat . Eurostat . Retrieved 20 July 2024 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j "CIA World Factbook" . CIA.gov . Central Intelligence Agency . Retrieved 17 February 2021 .
^ "Economically Active Population Survey. Third Quarter 2024" . INE Instituto Nacional de Estadística . Retrieved 15 December 2024 .
^ "Unemployment in Spain" . DatosMacro. Retrieved 15 June 2024 .
^ "Home" . The Global Guru . Retrieved 11 January 2022 .
^ "Economic report" (PDF) . Bank of Spain . Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008 .
^ "Spain: In-Depth Review 2024" (PDF) . European Commission . Retrieved 5 August 2024 .
^ "Debt according to the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP)" (PDF) . bde.es/webbde/es/estadis/infoest/temas/te_deu.html (in Spanish). Bank of Spain . Retrieved 4 November 2022 .
^ a b c d "Euro area and EU27 government deficit both at 0.6% of GDP" (PDF) . ec.europa.eu/eurostat . Eurostat. Retrieved 28 April 2020 .
^ "Archived copy" (PDF) . Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 December 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017 .{{cite web }}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link )
^ "Archived copy" (PDF) . Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2017. Retrieved 25 December 2017 .{{cite web }}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link )
^ "Sovereigns rating list" . Standard & Poor's. Retrieved 26 May 2011 .
^ a b c
^ "Scope upgrades Spain's long-term credit ratings to A and changes the Outlook to Stable" . Scope Ratings. Retrieved 6 September 2024 .
^ Official report on Spanish recent Macroeconomics, including tables and graphics (PDF) , La Moncloa, archived from the original (PDF) on 26 July 2008, retrieved 13 August 2008
^ Moller, Stephanie; Huber, Evelyne; Stephens, John D.; Bradley, David; Nielsen, François (2003). "Determinants of Relative Poverty in Advanced Capitalist Democracies". American Sociological Review . 68 (1): 22–51. doi :10.2307/3088901 . JSTOR 3088901 .
^ "El PIB español sigue sin recuperar el volumen previo a la crisis" (in Spanish). Expansión. 6 February 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016 .
^ "Spain" . 23 April 2016.
^ "Spain | European Stability Mechanism" . esm.europa.eu . 23 April 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2019 .
^ a b Bolaños, Alejandro (28 February 2014). "España logra en el año 2013 el primer superávit exterior en tres décadas" . El País .
^ Bolaños, Alejandro (29 February 2016). "El superávit exterior de la economía española supera el 1,5% del PIB en 2015" . El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582 . Retrieved 11 January 2022 .
^ "Spanish economy: Spanish economy grew 3.2% in 2015 | Economy and Business | EL PAÍS English Edition" . 29 January 2016.
^ "Fitch Affirms Spain at 'BBB+'; Outlook Stable" . Reuters . 29 January 2016.
^ Cite error: The named reference RazónEspañarecuperaPIB
was invoked but never defined (see the help page ).
^ Cite error: The named reference TelegraphSpainSuperstar
was invoked but never defined (see the help page ).
^ "La economía sumergida mueve más de cuatro millones de empleos" . 25 January 2016.
^ "La economía sumergida en España, cerca del 20% del PIB" . Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017 .
^ "España sigue entre los países con más economía sumergida" . Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2017 .
^ "UPDATE 2-Spain's economy returns to pre-pandemic levels in first quarter" . Reuters . 23 June 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023 .
^ "Economic forecast for Spain" . economy-finance.ec.europa.eu . Retrieved 3 November 2023 .
^ "Macroeconomic projections and quarterly report on the Spanish economy. December 2024" . bde.es . 17 December 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2024 .