Spanish General Statistics and Info |
All the basic information about Spain, from population to diallig code. Full name: Kingdom of Spain Population: 45 million (UN 2010) Capital: Madrid Area: 505,988km (195,363miles) Major languages: Spanish (Castellano), Catalan /Valencian, Gallego (Galician), Euskera (Basque) Major religion: Christianity Roman Catholic Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 85 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 euro = 100 cents Main exports: Transport equipment, agricultural products Internet domain: .es International dialling code: +34
History 16th – 19th Century Spain was a world power and maintained a vast overseas empire until the early 19th century. 20th Century History is marked by the bitterly fought Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 between the Republicans and the right wing Nationalists, followed by a 36-year dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. 1975 Franco died and Spain made the transition to a democratic state and built a successful economy, with monarch King Juan Carlos as head of state. 1978 The Constitution, signed on 6th December, shows respect for linguistic and cultural diversity within a united Spain. 17 Autonomous Regions; the country is divided into regions which all have their own directly elected authorities. Each autonomous region has its own level of jurisdiction over tax laws and other matters. Economy Until 2008, the Spanish economy was regarded as one of the most dynamic within the EU. However, the mainstays of the economy were tourism and a booming housing market and construction industry, and the global economic crisis of 2008-9 has hit the Spanish economy hard. Spain was tipped into a severe recession and by mid-2010 unemployment had climbed to over 20% - double the EU average. Location Spain shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal and its territory includes the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and two North African enclaves. Art & Culture From Velazquez in the seventeenth century, through Goya straddling the eighteenth and nineteenth, to Picasso in the twentieth, Spain has the proudest of traditions in art. Flamenco music and dance are widely admired around the world while Cervantes' novel Don Quixote is one of the most popular ever written. Cinema is much loved and the films of directors such as Pedro Almodovar attract huge audiences. Politics Head of state: King Juan Carlos I The Spanish Royal Family is very popular in Spain, King Juan Carlos is honoured and respected for ensuring the country's transition to democracy after the death of the former dictator, General Franco, and for saving Spain from a coup attempt in 1981. Prime minister: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (although standing down in 2011) Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who has been in office since 2004, led his governing Socialist Workers' Party to another victory in elections in March 2008. The party won by an increased margin, but fell just short of an absolute majority. The Socialist Workers' Party won a surprise election victory over Jose Maria Aznar's conservative Popular Party in March 2004. Polling was overshadowed by a series of explosions on Madrid commuter trains in which 191 people died just days beforehand. Mr Zapatero is considered to have won the elections because of voter anger over the conservative government's insistence that armed separatist group ETA was behind the blasts, despite the evidence pointing to Islamist extremists. Following his election victory, Mr Zapatero described both the war and the occupation of Iraq as a "huge disaster" and pulled Spain's 1,300 troops out of the country. The prime minister supported the process by which Catalonia won greater autonomy at a referendum in June 2006. Mr Zapatero was born in 1960. His grandfather, a Republican army officer, was shot dead during the Civil War. He studied law but his career has been largely devoted to politics. He joined the Socialist Party while still in his teens and first entered parliament at 26 and became Party Leader in 2000.
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