On this page you will find factual information about Spain – the country and its regions, economy, politics and governance, history, language and more. To start you off, we have added some geographical, demographic and formal information. We will continue to add information to this page and hopefully, in time, make About Spain into a tiny encyclopedia. All about Spain. Stay tuned for more!
Formal name: The Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España). And, perhaps surprisingly, it was established as late as in 1978.
National anthem: La Marca Real (or The Royal March). See our article here: La Marcha Real – sing along!
Land area: Spain covers 505.990 square kilometers, equivalent to a little over 195.000 sq. miles.
Population: The population of Spain is about 47 million, of which more than 5 million are foreign born. More than 80% live in urban areas concentrated in a number of metropolitan areas along the coasts, in the center of the country (Madrid) and some additional inland urban areas, mainly concentrated in the South and Northeast.
Geography: Spain is located at the extreme Southwest of Europe and is part a major part of the Iberian Peninsula. To the West you’ll find Portugal and to the South the English enclave of Gibraltar. In the Northeast, the country shares a border with the tiny Pyrenean mountain-chain country of Andorra as well as France. In addition to the Spanish mainland, the islands of the Baleares in the Mediterranean and the Canary islands of the Atlantic belong to the kingdom. Additionally, the small enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera are parts of Spanish lands. All three enclaves are surrounded by the country of Marocco. On top of that, Spain owns several tiny rock-islands as well as a small valley to the North of the Pyrenees named Llívia. Less than 13 sq. kilometers (close to 5 sq. miles) and with a population of less than 1500 people, it is completely surrounded by France.
The Spanish Constitution:
Read also our post on the Spanish Constitution of 1978 here.
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Spain’s Coat of Arms:
For details about the various elements of the coat of arms please the following article: Spain’s Coat of Arms explained.
Municipalities and Population:
Spain has more than 8,000 municipalities, but many of them are nearly empty. The urbanization process continues and not only are people moving from the countryside to towns and cities, people are also moving from towns and smaller cities to the bigger ones. Also, the coastal areas and tourist destinations are recipients of people on the move. Below we have put together one overview of the number of municipalities based on the number of inhabitants. From the total of 8,131 municipalities (actually a small increase compared to the previous year) 5,000 of them have less than 1,000 inhabitants. On the other end of the scale we find that 63 municipalities have more than 100,000 inhabitants. Additionally, we made a graphic involving the average number of people in those same municipalities. On the whole, the average number of inhabitants is a meager 5,784. Compared to many other countries which merge their municipalities and regions into larger units, Spain is quite unique.
