Spain

EuropeCapital city: MadridCapital metro: MadridMonarch: King Felipe VIPrime Minister: Pedro Sánchez

a monarch.

2026 population
49.7M
Rank #32 globally
Area
506k km² (195k sq mi)
Metros tracked
104
83% of population in metros
Composite score
316.2
Rank #10 globally

population: National quarterly estimate (1 Apr 2026) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 104 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography104 metros

Spain metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
104 polygons

Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 104 tracked metros
104 metros
#19Madrid★ Capital▲ Largest
Madrid · 6.9M · Continental Metro
67.4
Catalonia · 5.7M · Continental Metro
57.1
Valencia · 2.6M · Major Metro
27.9
#169Bilbao
Basque Country · 1.2M · Regional Hub
17.3
Andalusia · 2.0M · Regional Hub
15.2
Basque Country · 413K · Regional Hub
11.0
Andalusia · 1.1M · Established Metro
9.3
Balearic Islands · 921K · Established Metro
7.2
Navarre · 373K · Established Metro
7.1
Canary Islands · 931K · Established Metro
7.1
Andalusia · 521K · Established Metro
6.7
Basque Country · 333K · Established Metro
5.1
🗂️ Administrative subdivisions

19 entries listed under Spain across 2 types. Select any to see its metros and footprint.

19 total

Autonomous Cities (2)

📋 At a glance
Official language
Spanish
Currency
Euro (€)
Government
Parliamentary monarchy
Legislature
Cortes Generales
Demonym
Spanish
Time zones
UTC+01:00, UTC+02:00, UTC±00:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+34
Internet TLD
.es
ISO 3166
ES
Established
1516
Highest point
Teide (3,715 m (12,188 ft))
National anthem
Marcha Real

Facts via Wikidata.

🗣️ Languages of Spain

Spanish first; 3 languages share the country; 1 official.

LanguageShareStatus
Spanish99%Official
English24%None
Catalan17%Regional
Galician7%Regional
French2.1%None
Basque2%Regional

Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.

English reach
24%
Tier 3 country
Effective languages
1.0
Official-language gap
1%
Spanish is spoken by 99%

Spain on the languages board · Language power

📰 In the news6 stories
Every story in the latest digest →
💹 Economy and developmentHigh income
Human Dev. Index
#27 / 191
0.918
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#12 / 193
$1.91T
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#31 / 193
$38.6k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#32 / 190
$59.9k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#31 / 192
$37.1k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
★ #10 / 194
83.9 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
44.9 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#40 / 194
81%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
1.0%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#90 / 193
97/km² (251/mi²)
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#29 / 193
18.5%
World Bank · 2024
Rule of law
#23 / 175
0.95
V-Dem · 2025
Gini index
#60 / 166
33.4
World Bank · 2023
Internet users
#22 / 193
96%
World Bank · 2024
Inflation
#84 / 185
2.7%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#132 / 192
4.6 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#61 / 186
56%
Ember · 2025

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

🔮 What happens next

Our forecasts, frozen before the result and scored after it.

15 more on the forecast page.

Alliances & Organisations4 full memberships

Security

Political & Economic

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History35 leaders · click to expand

is an editorial flag: associated with atrocities against civilians, systemic subversion of the constitutional order, or a criminal conviction (political persecutions and annulled convictions excluded). It is a curated list, not a measurement, so a name without one has not been cleared of anything. Hover a badge for the reason on file. marks a monarch.

Constitutional Monarchy

Pedro Sánchez✦ Current
Prime Minister · PSOE · 8y 7d
2018–Present
King Felipe VI✦ Current
Monarch · Bourbon · 12y 11d
2014–Present
Mariano Rajoy
Prime Minister · PP · 6y 5m 14d
2011–2018
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Prime Minister · PSOE · 7y 8m 14d
2004–2011
José María Aznar
Prime Minister · PP · 7y 11m 24d
1996–2004
Felipe González
Prime Minister · PSOE · 13y 5m 13d
1982–1996
Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo
Prime Minister · UCD · 1y 9m 14d
1981–1982
Adolfo Suárez
Prime Minister · UCD · 4y 6m 19d
1976–1981
King Juan Carlos I
Monarch · Bourbon · 38y 7m 19d
1975–2014

Francoist State

Francisco Franco
Monarch · Military dictatorship · 36y 28d
1939–1975

Second Republic

Manuel Azaña
President · Republican Left · 2 years
1936–1939
Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
President · Republican · 4 years
1931–1936

Bourbon Restoration

King Alfonso XIII
Monarch · 28 years
1902–1931
Queen María Cristina
Regent · 16 years
1885–1902
King Alfonso XII
Monarch · 10 years
1874–1885

First Republic

Emilio Castelar
President · Republican · 4 months
1873–1874
Nicolás Salmerón
President · Federal Republican · 2 months
1873–1873
Francisco Pi i Margall
President · Federal Republican · 1 month
1873–1873
Estanislao Figueras
President · Federal Republican · 4 months
1873–1873
King Amadeo I
Monarch · 2 years
1871–1873
Francisco Serrano
Regent · 1 year
1869–1871

Bourbon Dynasty

Queen Isabel II
Monarch · 35 years
1833–1868
King Fernando VII
Monarch · 19 years
1813–1833
King Carlos IV
Monarch · 19 years
1788–1808
King Carlos III
Monarch · 29 years
1759–1788
King Fernando VI
Monarch · 13 years
1746–1759
King Luis I
Monarch · 7 months
1724–1724
King Felipe V
Monarch · 45 years
1700–1746

Habsburg Dynasty

King Carlos II
Monarch · 35 years
1665–1700
King Felipe IV
Monarch · 44 years
1621–1665
King Felipe III
Monarch · 22 years
1598–1621
King Felipe II
Monarch · 42 years
1556–1598
King Carlos I
Monarch · 40 years
1516–1556

Catholic Monarchs

King Ferdinand II
Monarch · 37 years
1479–1516
Queen Isabella I
Monarch · 25 years
1479–1504
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Middle Power#9 · 2.6%
3%6%9%12%160017001800190019502000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)

The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Wars and conflicts90 interstate wars · click to expand
Ifni War1957–1958
Combat deaths: 1,197+
Rif War●1920–1926
Rif Republic
Combat deaths: 70,000+
United States,Cuba Cuba,First Philippine Republic,Katipunan
Combat deaths: 3,685+
Katipunan,Sovereign Tagalog Nation,First Philippine Republic,United States
Combat deaths: 8,000+
Cuban rebels,United States
Combat deaths: 79,000+
Combat deaths: —
Combat deaths: 150,000+
Combat deaths: 1,000+
Combat deaths: 32,000+
Combat deaths: 10,000+

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.” Figures marked “COW battle deaths” are Correlates of War battle-death counts, which run lower than total deaths.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
47.9m
#32 in the world
Since 1800
4.17×
from 11.5m
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.59%
1.2% in 1800
12.0m24.0m35.9m47.9m18001850190019502000

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Spain: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak
2023
47.9m; already passed
2050
44.9m
95% band 34.0m to 58.0m
2100
33.1m
95% band 8.5m to 94.6m
2100 against 2025
0.69×
median falling from 2024
Deaths outnumber births
since 2015
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
24.8m49.7m74.5m99.4m1950197520002025205020752100
estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
563k born · 310k died · -130k net migration
TFR 2.47 · life expectancy 61.8 · median age 26.5
1960
667k born · 268k died · -155k net migration
TFR 2.81 · life expectancy 69.2 · median age 28.4
1970
662k born · 282k died · -61k net migration
TFR 2.88 · life expectancy 72.1 · median age 29.1
1980
571k born · 286k died · +20k net migration
TFR 2.21 · life expectancy 75.5 · median age 29.8
1990
406k born · 330k died · -31k net migration
TFR 1.36 · life expectancy 77.0 · median age 32.5
2000
399k born · 356k died · +176k net migration
TFR 1.21 · life expectancy 79.4 · median age 36.3
2010
481k born · 379k died · +69k net migration
TFR 1.37 · life expectancy 82.0 · median age 39.2
2020
343k born · 495k died · +237k net migration
TFR 1.19 · life expectancy 82.2 · median age 43.5

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

💰 Billionaires46 · $294.8B combined · click to expand
Fashion & Retail · Zara
$148.2B
Fashion & Retail · Retail, real estate
$19.5B
#235Sandra Ortega Mera(inherited)
Fashion & Retail · Zara
$13.2B
#395Rafael Del Pino(inherited)
Construction & Engineering · Construction
$9.3B
#407Juan Roig(inherited)
Fashion & Retail · Supermarkets
$9.1B
Real Estate · Shopping centers
$5.9B
Construction & Engineering · Construction
$5.9B
#841Hortensia Herrero(inherited)
Fashion & Retail · Supermarkets
$5.1B
#887Maria Del Pino(inherited)
Construction & Engineering · Construction
$4.9B
#991Miguel Fluxa Rossello(inherited)
Service · Hotels
$4.3B
Metals & Mining · Mining, commodities
$4.3B
#1076Sol Daurella(inherited)
Food & Beverage · Coca-Cola bottler
$4.0B

Source: Forbes real-time billionaires (via the rtb-api project). Net worth as of the latest monthly snapshot.

🏆 National Teams

Spain on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.

National Teams Champions

Every major championship won by Spain's national teams, newest first. 12 in total.

2026· 2026-07-19
2024· 2024-07-14
Spain
2023· 2023-08-20
2019· 2019-09-15
2013· 2013-01-27
2012· 2012-07-01
2012· 2012-07-01
2010· 2010-07-11
2008· 2008-06-29
2006· 2006-09-03
2005· 2005-02-06
1964· 1964-06-21
🏟️ League Hubs

Domestic league portals that operate in Spain: 3 leagues.