Spain covers a total of 504,782 square km (including 5240 sq kms of water) and has 4964 km of coastline. Its highest point is the Pico de Teide in Tenerife on the Canary Islands at 3718m, and on the mainland is the Mulhacén (3478m) in the Sierra Nevada in Andalucia. Spain is the highest European country after Switzerland. It is extremely diverse, ranging from the near-deserts of Almeria to the green countryside of the north and the white sandy beaches of the Mediterranean.

Spain is divided into 19 autonomous communities, 15 on the mainland, the Balearic and Canary Islands, and two little-known ones bordering Morocco (Ceuta and Melilla). In addition to the national capital of Madrid, each autonomous community has a capital, and within each autonomous community there may be more than one province that also has a capital, and which may be different to the community capital.

Weather
Whilst Spain is renowned for its excellent sunny weather, this does not apply to the whole of the country, and it does get cold in winter - in some places more than in others. (similar to the UK). It does however have spectacular scenery, rugged coastline and impressive estuaries called rías, particularly in Galicia. Inland Spain has more extremes of weather in that it normally freezes in winter and bakes in the summer. It gets particularly hot in the south in summer - Sevilla can be well in excess of 35C. The long Mediterranean coast is in general a bit wetter but milder year-round. The well-known Costa Brava, Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol coasts enjoy the warmer Mediterranean waters (over 20C in summer) and have miles of superb beaches that make these areas the most appealing to both visitors and expats alike. The Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca tend to be slightly wetter and windier than the mainland Mediterranean coast but with warmer waters (usually 25C in August).


People
Spain has a population of 44 million, 14.5% are 0-14 years, 68.1% are 15-64 years, and 17.4% are 65 and over. 3.7 million Immigrants now account for 8.4% of the total population. Average life expectancy for men is 79 and 82 for women. The annual population growth rate for Spaniards is a mere 1% although rapid growth in the immigrant population is expected to boost the overall rate. Literacy is 97% for those 15 years and over.

Castilian Spanish (castellano) is the official language and spoken throughout Spain, along with four other languages spoken alongside 'castellano' in their respective autonomous regions - Catalan (català) in Catalunya and the Balearic Islands, Valencian (valenciano) in Valencia, Galician (gallego) in Galicia, and Basque (euskara) in the Basque country and Navarra.

The chief of state is King Juan Carlos I ; heir apparent is his son, Prince Felipe, born in January 1968. The king is also commander of the armed forces. The head of government is Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, since 14h March 2004, who represents the socialist PSOE party. They have an absolute majority in the House of Congress but not in the Senate. The main opposition party is the right-wing Partido Popular (PP) led by Mariano Rajoy.

The central state power is in Madrid, but certain powers such as agriculture, tourism, health, environment and transport policy have been transferred to the individual autonomous communities whereby each has its own parliament as well as a central government representative. This does however mean that there is a lot of bureaucracy in Spain!

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices and PPPs (purchasing power parity) for 2004 was $995 billion with a real growth rate of 2.5%. GDP per capita was approximately $22,421. Agriculture accounts for around 4% of GDP, mainly in the form of wine, olives, fruit, vegetables and rice. Industry accounted for 17.3% of GDP with the main industries being processed foods, textiles, footwear, petrochemicals, steel, automobiles, consumer goods and electronics.

Spain's fishing fleet, the largest in the EU, is another important contributor. Services make up the remaining 65% with retailing, tourism, banking and telecommunications all making a crucial contribution to economic activity.
Tourism is of particular importance with over 50 million visitors a year injecting some $25 billion into the economy.

Unemployment continues to fall steadily under Zapatero's administration, but remains relatively high within the EU at 10.5% although the total is now below two million (1,974,860).

The interest rate for Spain and the rest of the Eurozone is low, at around 2.8%, making mortgages affordable and continuing to fuel the property boom. Inflation is currently around 3.1%.