About Spain

About Spain Spain is a nexus between different cultures (European, Mediterranean, Latin, Arabic, Africans ...), is the natural bridge between the European Union and Latin American and USA (40 million native Spanish speakers). Spain is a multicultural country open to other cultures. Why Study Spanish? Today we're the 6 global exporter of services (12 importer) and the 16 exporter of goods (14 importer). In the second half of the 20th century, Spain has played a catch-up role in the western international community; it joined the EU in 1986.

International organization participation: AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ECLAC, EIB, EMU, ESA, EU, FAO, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MONUC, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNU, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC.

Economy - overview: Spain's mixed capitalist economy supports a GDP that on a per capita basis is 80% that of the four leading West European economies. Its center-right government successfully worked to gain admission to the first group of countries launching the European single currency (the euro) on 1 January 1999. The government intends to make further progress in changing labor laws and reforming pension schemes, which are key to the sustainability of both Spain's internal economic advances and its competitiveness in a single currency area. Growth of 2.4% in 2003 was satisfactory given the background of a faltering European economy. Adjusting to the monetary and other economic policies of an integrated Europe - and reducing unemployment - will pose challenges to Spain over the next few years.

• GDP: purchasing power parity - $850.7 billion (2002 est.)
• GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $21,200 (2002 est.)
  GDP - composition by sector:
  agriculture: 4%
  industry: 31%
  services: 65% (2000 est.)

Exports: $122.2 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities: machinery, motor vehicles; foodstuffs, other consumer goods
Exports - partners: France 19%, Germany 11.4%, UK 9.6%, Portugal 9.5%, Italy 9.3%, US 4.6% (2002)
Imports: $156.6 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, fuels, chemicals, semi finished goods; foodstuffs, consumer goods (1997)
Imports - partners: France 17%, Germany 16.5%, Italy 8.6%, UK 6.4%, Netherlands 4.8% (2002)

The world is becoming more and more globally and therefore speaking a foreign language has never been as important as it is today. To better understand why Spanish is such an important and useful language let's look at some facts. Spanish is spoken by more than 500 million people worldwide and is official language in 21 countries, with over 330 million native speakers. In USA alone there are more than 40 million native Spanish speakers and the number is still increasing. Spanish is an official language in many international organizations (i.e. United Nations, GATT, etc.) and is widely used in the world of art and tourism.

• Spoken by 500 million people
• 3 language of the world (number of people)
• 3 language of the world (number of countries where it is official language). Spanish is the mother tongue of approximately 350 million people in 21 countries
• More than 40 million students of Spanish in the world
• Spanish is the second most used language in international communication.
• The Hispanic population in the United States has grown by 60 per cent in just one decade. At present there are 40 million Hispanics, representing 12,5 per cent of the total population.

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