Spanish Insight

Spain is 14th largest economy by nominal GDP in the world, and it is also among the largest in the world by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The country is a member of the European Union (EU), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Spanish economy is 4th largest in Europe behind Germany, England and France; and the 4th largest in the Euro zone, based on nominal GDP statistics. In 2012, Spain was 12th largest exporter in the world and 16th largest importer.

Spain is listed 23rd in UN Human Development Index and 30th in GDP per capita by the World Bank, thus it is classified as a high income economy and among the countries of very high human development. Spain has the world's 10th highest quality of life. Spain has also the biggest life expectancy in Europe.

Infrastructure

The high dynamism and advanced technology and investment in Research and Development of Spanish companies has placed Spain in position of absolute leadership, with global footprints of companies with irrefutable prestige. According to the latest Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum in Davos for the 2015-2016 biennium, Spain ranks 6th worldwide in transport infrastructure, followed by Japan and ahead of France, Germany and the United States. Spanish construction and engineering companies are world leaders in the sector, participating in the most important projects in the world to build roads, railways, airports and ports.

To their experience, these companies combine the development of their own technology, high tech capacity, superb management and enormous diversification with presence in more than 80 countries of 5 continents. Thus, the important contracts awarded in recent years, including the AVE Mecca-Medina, the expansion of the Panama Canal, the Riyadh subway or the Lima subway to name just a few, are added important awards in 2016. Thus, and as an example, Ferrovial has been awarded the modernization and commercial project of Denver airport, the largest in the United States; ACS has been awarded a pipeline laying project in Saudi Arabia for $100 million and a tunnel of 2.2 kilometers in Hong Kong for $1 billion; Sacyr is awarded the construction and concession of the 186 KM long Rome - Latina Expressway, with an investment of $2.8 billion; Ferrovial and Acciona shall build a bridge on Australia's Pacific Highway for 172 million Euro. Spanish engineering construction companies have accepted the challenge of environmental concerns by applying technologies to achieve the minimum impact, conserve biodiversity and achieve energy savings and CO2 emissions. Companies such as ABERTIS, ABENGOA, ACCIONA, ACS, FCC, FERROVIAL, ISOLUX-CORSAN, OHL, SACYR, TECNICAS REUNIDAS and others are world leaders in this sector.

High Speed Railway

The significant investments made in the last 25 years to improve the Spanish railway system have made Spain a global reference in the design, construction, maintenance, signaling and management of new high-speed lines. The dynamism of this sector has allowed Spanish companies to be presented round the globe and to build the second largest network of high speed in the world and the first in Europe. It also has one of the most modern and technologically advanced train fleets in the world. This makes many countries visit Spain to know the rail system and the Spanish high speed model. In addition, the consolidation of consortia between Spanish companies for the development of High Speed ​​has brought great success. Companies like RENFE, ADIF, CAF, INECO, TALGO, COPASA or INDRA, among others, are market leaders.

ADVANCED INDUSTRIES

Automobile

The automobile sector is one of the main drivers of the Spanish economy and generates 10% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Spain is 2nd largest car manufacturer in Europe only behind Germany, and 9th in the world, in addition to the first in Europe in industrial vehicles. It aims to raise its production to three million units a year.

Spain is the only country who almost has the plants of all multinationals of auto sector. The reason behind this is that Spain allows a very competitive manufacture environment. In addition, it has very rich auto parts sector, which provides a high added value to the work carried out by multinationals. Gestamp, in terms of revenue is the 6th largest company of the world while 3rd largest in Europe. Grupo Antolín is with world leading company in designing and manufacturing of auto bodies, chassis and mechanisms, while with a high component in R & D; Ficosa is the world leader in roof coatings.

SEAT , Nissan , PSA Group (Citröen and Peugeot), Volkswagen , Mercedes-Benz , Renault , IVECO , General Motors , Opel and Ford , have factories in Spain and nine of these groups have made recent investments in Spain by installing new plants. 

The commitment of the Spanish Administration has also been important and constant, as 34 technology centers are dedicated to this sector and its training programs.

Air and Space systems

The Spanish aeronautics industry is 5th largest in Europe in terms of turnover and employment. Spain also stands at 7th number in world in satellite manufacturing. Spain successfully participates, through companies and scientific entities, in leading projects such as the Rosetta Mission and the exploration of Mars.

The Spanish government has made a clear commitment to this sector. The government considers this sector as one of the strategic industrial sectors. That’s why several public R & D centers have been created.

Spain has companies and institutions that participate successfully in some of the major aerospace projects. Eight private companies and four scientific entities have participated in the development of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta mission, which allowed the Philae spacecraft to land on comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014. Eight (8) companies; Engineering SENER , Crisa , Deimos Space , Airbus Defense and Space , GMV , Thales Alenia Space Spain , Alter Technology Tüv Nord and Rymsa Space participated in said mission.

Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC),The National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) and the Polytechnic University of Madrid also contributed to this mission. These agencies participated in the development of the Osiris chambers and the detector of dust and particles of the comet, Giada .

Mars Spanish Mission

Ambition of Spanish space industry goes much further. Spain prepared a pioneering project, the Mars Spanish Mission (MSM), to become an international reference in science and technology of simulators and habitats for extreme environments.

The program entails facilitating the creation and consolidation of companies that participate in one of the next great challenges of humanity: colonize the planet Mars. Initial steps were taken in 2013 in the Monegros desert (Aragon), where preliminary tests on organization, logistics and deployment of resources were carried out. A number of communications and management protocols were also launched and tested.

The telecommunication satellites company; Hispasat , 8th  in the world and 4th  in Europe, collaborated with the project and facilitated communications between the researchers of scientific camp and Support Center Mission, which was installed at the European Center Business and Innovation (CEEI) of Zaragoza.

The next phase of the MSM was developed in 2014 at the Mars Desert Research Station, owned by The Mars Society, in the Utah desert. These tests simulated relevant factors in future planetary exploration, such as limited resources, long-term life support and work in small isolated areas.

Health and Research

The Spanish health sector is considered one of the best in the world. The reason behind this is its superb network of hospitals and primary health care centres. At the heart of the system is its  strong base of research and innovation , which has made possible to develop technology, medicines and cutting-edge treatments for diseases such as malaria, HIV and Alzheimer's. Spain has first-class health professionals, highly demanded by the rest of European countries due to their high qualification and able to design reference management systems at an international level. 

Spanish R & D for the medicine of the future:

Spain has one of the best health systems in the world and is the fifth exporter of health technologies. Its network of hospitals, specialty and outpatient centers offers a broad portfolio of services, which provide the public and private sectors. At the base of the system there is a consolidated medical research network that places our country among the leading in the health technology sector.

One of the pillars on which the welfare state enjoyed by Spaniards is its National Health System (NHS), recognized as one of the best in the world for its accessibility, equity and quality.

The World Health Organization (WHO) places Spanish health in seventh position in the world ranking of health systems. Likewise, the professionals of the sector trained in Spain are the most demanded by the rest of the countries of the European Union (EU), for their excellent training and high professional qualification.

The National Health System extends its services to all citizens through two levels of care: Primary Care and Specialized Care. The primary care available to the population provided a number of basic services in health centers by multidisciplinary teams. The task of these spaces is to promote health and prevent diseases. For its part, the Specialized Care is developed in centers of specialties and hospitals, on an outpatient basis or on an income basis. In all, an integral attention is given, with high levels of quality.

The set of services that the National Health System offers citizens includes preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative and health promotion and maintenance activities.

Almost 800 hospitals

Spain has 3,006 health centers, 10,166 local clinics and 790 hospitals (1.8 per 100,000 inhabitants) with a total of 162,538 beds installed (352.5 per 100,000 inhabitants). Of each ten Spanish hospitals, four are public and six private, a proportion that is invested when the ownership of installed beds is addressed: ten out of seven are public and three private.

The Spanish population has a good perception of their health. According to the latest available data, corresponding to 2009, seven out of ten inhabitants consider their health to be good or very good. By sex, men (eight out of ten) have a better self-assessment than women (seven out of ten). More than seven out of ten adults positively value the functioning of the public health system.

Companies with Global Ambitions

Spain has an increasingly internationalized business sector undergoing expansion that is highly diversified in terms of the products and services offered and their presence in various sectors and geographic markets.

Foreign trade – specifically the export of goods and services – is a substantial part of the turnover of Spanish companies. So much so, that in the last recession sales abroad served as a lifeline for thousands of businesses that found internationalization to be a means to overcoming the drop in domestic consumption and to saving jobs and their business activity.

The “2014 Profile of the exporting company 2014“ report compiled by the Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) found that in 2013 the number of exporting firms continued to rise for the fifth year in a row, reaching 151,160, 10% more than the 137,528 at year-end 2012. In 2009 – the year of the worst recession in the GDP of the Spanish economy – Spain had only 107,579 exporting companies.

The increase in turnover figures has kept pace with the number of firms. The performance of Spanish exports in recent years has been extraordinary. In fact, in 2015, they set a new record. Exports of goods rose by 4.3% during the first eleven months of 2015, a figure that is 2.1 points higher than that for the same period in 2014, reaching 230.09 billions of Euros. This represents a new annual high for the January-November period since the start of the historical series in 1971. The new export data is also higher than that of other economic powers such as France (4%), Italy (3.8%), the United Kingdom (-2-6%) and the United States (-6.8%).

Although, in general, exports evolved positively in all sectors, it is important to highlight the growth in foreign sales in the automotive and associated components sector, in that of fruit, vegetables and pulses, and in textiles.

By geographical areas, exports to our EU partners grew by 6.4% compared to the same period in 2014. Where exports to other countries are concerned, it is important to highlight the growth of exports to markets with great potential such as the USA (8.6%), China (8.4%), Mexico (22.6%), Chile (25.9%), Saudi Arabia (37.3%) and Australia (18.9%).

Tourism

Spain is a beautiful and diverse country located in the southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. To the Northeast it borders with France and the tiny principality of Andorra. To the West its limits are defined by the Balearic Islands located in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea. Its Southern most territories are the picturesque Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla located in the North of Africa. This is why travelling to Spain is likely to be a enriching experience since tourism in the country offers a wide variety of destinations, activities and landscapes.

Spain is a country of large geographical and cultural diversity, often a surprise for tourists who are expecting to find a country mostly known for beach tourism. Travel to Spain and you will find everything, from lush meadows, green valleys, hills and snowy mountains in the Northern regions to almost desert zones in the South. Its beaches are also famous and worth visiting, small and charming creeks in the North and wide white sand beaches on the South and Western parts of the country, without forgetting the exotic black sand beaches of the volcanic Canary Islands.

Every year millions of tourists decide travel to Spain, the country has been one of the most important tourist destinations of the last decades becoming the third most popular travel destination in Europe.

One of the better known cities is Madrid, capital city of Spain. Due to its central location, in the heart of Spain it has excellent communications with the rest of the provinces and is seat to the Spanish government and to the Royal Palace where the kings of Spain usually dwell. The city features distinctly winding streets, all of which seem to be heading either up or down and gather in the central square in the centre of the city.

Barcelona is probably one of the favorite destinations for tourists, a worldwide known city whose name recalls the awesome art of the architect Gaudi, the celebration of the 1992 Olympic Games, and the cosmopolitan atmosphere of its streets. Tourism in the city offers also the possibility of enjoying its beaches and water sports. More than 74, probably 75 million international travelers have come to Spain" in 2016.