| The
exuberance of the Spaniards and the glorious predictability
of the summer weather have been attracting refugees
from northern Europe's damp and clammy lands for
decades, but Spain is much more than the Costa
del Sol and warm English beer. It is drenched
in the historical pageantry of empire and conquistadors,
the artistic legacy of Goya, Velázquez,
Picasso and Dalí, and the romance of Don
Quijote, Papa Hemingway and the International
Brigades.
Full country name: Kingdom
of Spain
Area: 504,784 sq km
Population: 40.5 million (growth
rate 0.1%)
Capital city: Madrid (pop 3
million)
People: Spaniards (though Catalans
and Basques display a fierce independent spirit)
Language: Castilian Spanish
(also Catalan, Galician & Basque)
Time Zone: GMT/UTC plus 1 hour
in winter, or two hours in summer (from the
last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September)
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic
Government: Parliamentary monarchy
Prime Minister: José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
GDP: $720.8 billion
GDP per head: $18,000
Annual growth: 4%
Inflation: 2.9%
Major industries: textiles
& apparel, food & beverages, metals,
chemicals, shipbuilding, tourism
Major trading partners: EU
(esp. France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, UK,
Benelux), US
Member of EU: yes
Euro zone participant: yes |
