Spain consists of 17 different regions, also called autonomous communities. Those include the island regions of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. In addition, there are two autonomous city areas, enclaves named Ceuta and Melilla, located on the Northwestern coast of the African continent.

The enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla makes Spain the only European country with joint physical borders to an African nation.

The map shows the geographic locations of Spain’s regions as well the two autonomous city areas of Ceuta and Melilla on the Northern coast of the African continent.

There are various degrees of autonomy in the regions, all in accordance with the negotiated terms in agreements between the regions themselves and the central, federal power in Madrid preceding the constitution of 1978. A constitution of the new, democratic Spain which replaced the decades long dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

The regions, or autonomous communities as they are called, are both political and administrative units with each region having their own capital, their own parliament, their own set of laws, election processes and more.

Basic information about the regions:

Below you may also find some “basic” information about each region. Capital, regional day, population, size, GDP/capita and average income in the region.

The table shows some of the basic information about each region.

Size of Each Region

Population per Region

Population Density per Region

Economies of the Regions

Regional GDP per Capita

The autonomous city areas of Ceuta and Melilla on the North African coast contribute about €1.7 billion and €1.5 billion respectively on top of the larger regions GDPs.

Number of Companies per Region

The distribution of where Spanish companies are based in 2017.

Among the autonomous city areas, Ceuta has a total of 4,160 companies and Melilla has 5,056.