Spain Location:
40°26'N, 3°42'W
Spain Geography:
At 194,884 mi2 (504,782 km2), Spain is the world's 51st-largest country. It is comparable in size to Turkmenistan, and is somewhat larger than the U.S. state of California.
On the west, Spain borders Portugal, on the south, it borders Gibraltar (a British overseas territory) and Morocco, through its cities in North Africa (Ceuta and Melilla). On the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. Spain also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a number of uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the strait of Gibraltar, known as Plazas de soberanía, such as the Chafarine islands, the isle of Alborán, the "rocks" (peñones) of Vélez and Alhucemas, and the tiny Isla Perejil. In the northeast along the Pyrenees, a small exclave town called Llívia in Catalonia is surrounded by French territory.
Mainland Spain is dominated by high plateaus and mountain ranges, such as the Sierra Nevada. Running from these heights are several major rivers such as the Tajo, the Ebro, the Duero, the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir. Alluvial plains are found along the coast, the largest of which is that of the Guadalquivir in Andalusia.
Due to Spain's geographical situation and orographic conditions, the climate is extremely diverse; it can be roughly divided in three areas:
A temperate version of the Continental climate takes place in the inland areas of the Peninsula (largest city, Madrid).
The Mediterranean climate region, which roughly extends from the Andalusian plain along the southern and eastern coasts up to the Pyrenees, on the seaward side of the mountain ranges that run near the coast (largest city, Barcelona).
An Oceanic climate takes place in Galicia and the coastal strip by the Bay of Biscay (largest city, Bilbao). This area is often called Green Spain.
Spain People:
Population
- 2007 estimate 45,061,274 (28th)
- Density 88.39 /km2 (106th)
220 /sq mi
Spain Government:
A government is a body that has the power to make, and the authority enforce rules and laws within a civil, corporate, religious, academic, or other organization or group.[1] The governments can be classified in various ways: The classical way of classification is according to the number of people who hold the power (one, a few, or a majority). The more recent classification bases itself on the institutional organization (parliamentary or presidential systems) or the distribution and the degree of control exercised over the society.
Spain Economy:
According to the World Bank, Spain's economy is the eighth largest worldwide and the fifth largest in Europe. As of 2005, the absolute GDP was valued at $1.12 trillion, just behind Italy and ahead of Canada (see List of countries by GDP (nominal)). It is listed 22nd in GDP per capita, just behind the United Arab Emirates and ahead of Singapore.
Spain's mixed economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is 90% of that of the four leading West European economies and slightly below the European Union average. The centre-right government of former prime minister Aznar worked successfully to gain admission to the first group of countries launching the euro in 1999. Unemployment stood at 7.6% in October 2006, a rate that compares favorably to many other European countries, and which is a marked improvement over rates that exceeded 20% in the early 1990s. Perennial weak points of Spain's economy include high inflation, a large underground economy, low productivity and one of the lowest rates of investment in research and development among developed countries, also an education system slated in OECD reports as one of the worst in Western Europe. Due to the loss of competitiveness, manufacturing jobs are being lost to cheaper workforce countries in Eastern Europe and Asia.
On the brighter side, the Spanish economy is credited for having avoided the virtual zero growth rate of some of its largest partners in the EU.[28] In fact, the country's economy has created more than half of all the new jobs in the European Union over the five years ending 2005.[29] The Spanish economy has thus been regarded lately as one of the most dynamic within the EU, attracting significant amounts of foreign investment.[30] During the last four decades the Spanish tourism industry has grown to become the second biggest in the world[31] worth approximately 40,000 million Euros in 2006[32] More recently, the Spanish economy has benefited greatly from the global real estate boom, with construction representing 16% of GDP and 12% of employment.[31] According to calculations by the German newspaper Die Welt, Spain is on pace to overtake countries like Germany in per capita income by 2011.[33] However, the downside of this has been a corresponding rise in the levels of personal debt; as prospective homeowners struggle to meet asking prices, so the average level of household debt has tripled in less than a decade. Among lower income groups, the median ratio of indebtedness to income was 125% in 2005.[34]
Spain More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain | 
