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Spain is a country in the south west corner of Europe. There is a mainland area of Spain and three islands in the Mediterranean Sea, namely Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza. The Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, are also part of Spain. Spain also has two cities on the coast of North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla.

Spain has its south and east coast border on the Mediterranean Sea and its northern border on the Atlantic Ocean.

Mainland Spain is mainly flat with rugged hills. In the north of the country, the Pyrenees mountains are along the border with France.

The geographical coordinates for the centre of Spain, also known as lines of latitude and longitude, are:-
Latitude - 40 00N
Longitude - 4 00W

The capital of Spain is Madrid.

Spain is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a King (or Queen) as head of state and a prime minister as head of the government. The present King is King Felipe VI who took over from his father, King Juan Carlos, who abdicated, which means he resigned as monarch, in 2014. He is 48 (2017). His heir is Princess Leonor, who is 11 (2017). However, if a male child is born to Felipe VI, that child will be the heir.

In elections everyone over the age of 18 can vote.

The currency in Spain is the euro. Spain is a member of the European Union, having joined in 1986.

Spanish is the official language.

Check the weather in Madrid now.

This is the time in Madrid now

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The Spanish flag is 3 horizontal stripes of red, yellow and red, with the central yellow band twice as big as the outer red bands. The national coat of arms is on the left side of the flag, closest to the flagpole. The coat of arms shield has the emblems of the four traditional kingdoms of Spain, clockwise from the upper left these are Castile, Leon, Navarre and Aragon. The shield is framed by two pillars representing the two sides of the Straits of Gibralter, the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.

Hear the National Anthem

The Spanish National Anthem is called the National Anthem of Spain. It was first adopted in 1770, replaced in 1931 and restored in 1942. This anthem has no words.
If anthem fails to play click here

The Land
The People
Life and Death
Health, Energy and the Environment
Education and Work
Travel, Communication and the Media

The total land area of Spain is 498,980 sq kms which is the 3rd largest in Europe.

Spain has lakes, rivers and canals which total 6,390 sq kms.

Mainland Spain has boundaries with 4 countries

Portugal 1,224 kms

France 646 kms

Andorra 63 kms

Gibralter 1.2 kms

Spain has a coastline of 4,964 kms which is the 8th longest in Europe.

The highest point in Spain is Oico de Teide on Canary Islands at 3,718 metres.

The pie chart below shows how the land is split between agricultural land (crops and pastures), forests and other, which can be towns, villages, desert or frozen waste called tundra.

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The total population of Spain is 48.56 million people, making it the 5th largest country in Europe by population.

Of this number 24.64 million are females and 23.92 million are males.

A person from Spain is called a Spaniard.

To be a citizen of Spain, one of your parents must be a citizen of Spain. It is not sufficient to be born in Spain. You have to live in Spain for 10 years before you can begin to apply for citizenship.

The largest five cities in Spain, by population are:-

Madrid 3,255944 people

Barcelona 1,621,537

Valencia 814,208

Seville 703,206

Zaragoza 674,317

For each country we will give you a diagram showing the population density. This is the average number of people for each square kilometre. Each little Owlbut is 1 person and the big yellow rectangle is 1 sq km. After a while you can compare countries and see which ones are the most crowded. Remember it is only an average as more people live closer together in towns and cities than in villages out in the country.

79.6% of the people live in cities or towns.

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The birth rate in Spain is 9.4 births per 1,000 of population

The death rate in Spain is 9.1 deaths per 1,000 people.

Check this against the birth rate. If the death rate is higher than the birth rate then the population will decrease unless immigrants arrive in the country.

There are 2.9 deaths of girls under 1 year per 1,000 of births and 3.6 deaths of boys.

The median age for females is 43.6 and for males is 41.2. The median age is that age which divides the population exactly in half so there are the same number of people above the median age as below it.

The average age of a woman when she has her first child is 29.8.

The elderly dependency ratio is 28.5. This is the number of elderly people (ages 65+) per 100 people of working age (ages 15-64).

The potential support ratio is 3.5. This is the number of working-age people (ages 15-64) per one elderly person (ages 65+). As a population ages, the potential support ratio tends to fall, meaning there are fewer potential workers to support the elderly.

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Spain spends 9.0% of its total income on health care.

There are 4.95 doctors per 1,000 people.

There are 3.1 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

23.8% of the population are estimated as obese.

100% of Spaniards have drinking water that is either piped into their home or they have access to a public tap, a protected borehole, well, spring or protected rainwater collection facility.

99.8% of the urban population and 100% of the rural population have access to a flushing toilet that is connected to a sewer, a pit latrine (that is a permanent hole in the ground that is looked after) or a composting toilet.

Spain releases 276.0 million metric tons of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels in the process of producing and consuming energy. This puts it as the 7th highest in Europe.

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Spain spends 4.3% of its total income on education.

Children usually start school at age 6 in Spain. Primary education is for six years until age 12 and secondary education must continue till 16 but can go on to 18/19. This may be followed by further education at a university or college.

Generally the school year consists of 3 terms and starts in the first week of September and finishes at the end of June. There is usually a 2 week break at Christmas and Easter.

97.7% of females and 98.8% of males can read and write by the age of 15.

38.6% of all people aged between 16 and 24 are not in work. Among females 37.4% are unemployed while with males 39.5% can't find work.

The total number of people available for work in spain is 22.89 million.

They work in the following sectors.

Agriculture includes farming, fishing and forestry work

Industry includes mining, manufacturing, construction and energy workers

Services is everything else

19.7% of the workforce are unemployed.

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There are 99 paved airports in Spain, which is the 6th highest number in Europe.

There are 16,101 kilometres of railways in Spain, which is the 7th longest in Europe.

There are 683,175 kilometres of roads in Spain, which means Spain is in 2nd place for the most kilometres of roads in Europe.

There are 6 major national newspapers in Spain.

There are 50.90 million mobile phone users.

40% of the people have a fixed landline.

37.9 million people have access to the internet at home via any device (computer or mobile).

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