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Spain

 Flag of Spain

Last reviewed : 12 September 2008

Country information

Map of Spain

Area: 504,782 km², of which 499,542 km² is land and 5,240 km² is water.
Population: 44 million
Capital City: Madrid
Languages: Castilian Spanish - 74%, Catalan - 17%, Galician - 7%, Basque - 2%
Life Expectancy: 78 male, 84 female (source World Health Organisation)
People: Approximately 10% of the Spanish population are foreign nationals.  Top foreign nationalities in Spain are Moroccan (675k), Romanian (664k), Ecuadorian, (413k), Colombian (264k) and British (206k registered with the police and 1 million do not live in Spain permanently).
Religions: Roman Catholic - 97%; Protestant/other - 3%
Currency: Euro

Government: Spain is a democratic constitutional monarchy with a National Parliament (Cortes Generals), formed by the Congress of Deputies and the Senate, that is elected every 4 years. Spain is divided in to 17 regions – Andalusia, Aragón, Asturias, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Cantabria, Castile and León, Castile-La-Mancha, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Community of Madrid, Region of Murcia, Basque Country, Community of Valencia, Navarra and two autonomous cities – Ceuta and Meillla. These autonomous communities have varying powers, but each has its own parliament, government and administrative apparatus.
Major political parties:
• Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) leader: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero;
• Popular Party (PP) leader: Mariano Rajoy;
• United Left (IU) leader: Gaspar Llamazares;
• Convergence and Union (CiU) leader: Artur Mas.

Head of State: King Juan Carlos I
Prime Minister: Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (PSOE)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Miguel Angel Moratinos
Composition of Parliament: Total seats: 350. PSOE, centre left (169); Partido Popular (PP) centre right (154); others (27).
Membership of international groupings/organisations: European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), United Nations (UN), Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

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