GEOGRAPHY
Together with Portugal and Andorra, Spain makes up the geographical unit of the Iberian Peninsula, located at the south-western edge of Europe. Spain also has two large archipelagos, the Canaries and the Balearics, and a series of smaller islands and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla in the north of Africa.

Its total surface area, 506,030 sq km, places Spain among the world’s 50 largest countries. Spanish territory in the peninsula covers 493,514 sq km, the Balearics 4,992 sq km, the Canaries 7,492 sq km and the cities of Ceuta and Melilla 32 sq km.


POPULATION
Spain’s population is now above 46 million. As of January 2009, 46,661,950 people were resident, of whom 5,598,691 are foreign nationals. By sex, 51% of the population are women and 49% are men. By age, 15.5% are below 16, 43.3% between 16 and 44 and 41% over 45.

ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 is the country’s supreme law and the foundation of its legal authority, in which the fundamental obligations and rights of its citizens and the form and structure of the State are regulated. Article I of the Constitution declares that Spain is a social and democratic State, which advocates freedom, justice, equality and political pluralism as the highest values of its legal system. The article also establishes that national sovereignty belongs to the Spanish people, from whom all State powers emanate, and that the country is a parliamentary monarchy. The Constitution contains a long list of the fundamental rights and public freedoms of all citizens and envisages the establishment of the State of the Autonomous Communities.

Spain is a parliamentary monarchy. The King, as Head of State, symbolizes its unity and permanence, acting as arbiter and moderator of the functioning of the institutions and as the country’s highest representative in its international relations.

The Spanish government has executive functions and the power to propose new legislation. The government directs the country’s internal and foreign policy, civil administration, the military and the defence of the State. The government is organized in such a way that the figure of the President of the Government takes on particular importance; in fact, Spain can be said to have a Prime Ministerial system.

The cabinet is known as the Council of Ministers, formed by the president, the vice-president or vice-presidents and the ministers. The Council meets every week. The current government comprises the President of the Government, three vice-presidents with ministerial portfolios and 17 ministers in all. Over half of the ministers are women.


THE AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES
The 1978 Constitution recognized and guaranteed the right to self-government of the nationalities and regions of the Spanish nation, and the solidarity between them all. Spain has 17 Autonomous Communities, or self-governing regions, and two Autonomous Cities, Ceuta and Melilla in the north of Africa. Political and administrative powers are divided between the central and regional governments.

Each Autonomous Community has its own Statute of Autonomy, approved by law, which provides the region’s basic institutional regulations and defines essential aspects such as the organization and the functioning of its Parliament and Government, the powers that correspond to the Community, its administration, its symbols and its marks of identity, language use and civil law, and the relations with the State and with the other Autonomous Communities.

Spain’s great cultural diversity is reflected in the variety of the languages spoken in the country. The official language is Spanish. Some Autonomous Communities have their own languages, such as Catalan, Valencian, Galician and Euskera, which are also official in their respective regions.


THE LANGUAGES OF SPAIN
Article 3 of the Constitution established that Spanish is the official language of the State and that all Spanish nationals have the duty to know it and the right to use it. The other languages of Spain are also official in their respective Autonomous Communities, in accordance with their statutes. The article also establishes that Spain’s linguistic diversity is a cultural asset which deserves particular respect and protection.

For the first time in history, the Spanish Constitution upheld the right of the Autonomous Communities of the Basque Country, Galicia, Catalonia, the Balearics and Valencia to use their own language, without prejudice to the use of Spanish.

The Spanish language has been in constant expansion since the sixteenth century. At the end of the nineteenth century there were some 60 million speakers. A century later, with almost 400 million speakers, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, after Chinese Mandarin. It is the official language of some twenty countries and is one of the three languages that are regularly used as official languages by international organizations.