Country profile · Southern Europe
Spain
Spain has the world's 12th largest economy (2025) and the fastest growing of the large euro economies. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a Socialist, has led minority governments since 2018. On October 2, 2026 Congress rejected two of his housing decrees, and he said he was considering an early election.
Where Spain ranks
All rankings →Which alliances is Spain in?
All alliances →Disputed territories involving Spain
All disputed territories →
How does Spain vote at the UN?
Spain's voting record →Share of recorded UN General Assembly votes on which Spain and each country voted the same way, 2025.
Who runs Spain?
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE) runs Spain; King Felipe VI is head of state. Sánchez took office in 2018, after the first successful no-confidence vote since 1978. The Popular Party (PP) won the most seats in 2023, but Sánchez kept power with the votes of Catalan and Basque parties, in return for an amnesty for the leaders of Catalonia's 2017 independence bid. The Catalan party Junts broke with him in October 2025 (chart). On October 2, 2026 Congress rejected two of his housing decrees, and he said he was considering an early election. Sánchez, born on February 29, 1972, won back his party's leadership in 2017 after touring Spain in his own Peugeot 407. One companion on that tour, former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, was sentenced to more than 24 years for corruption in June 2026. His wife, Begoña Gómez, faces a jury trial for influence peddling and embezzlement; prosecutors ask for her acquittal.
- PSOE and Sumar (the government) 147
- Popular Party (PP) and Vox 169
- Other parties 34
Photo (2023): Pool Moncloa, Wikimedia Commons, free with attribution
Who are Spain's allies and rivals?
Spain's closest allies are France and Portugal. Relations with the United States are strained. In March 2026 Spain refused to let US forces use the bases at Rota and Morón for strikes on Iran, and it closed its airspace to US aircraft in the war. President Trump said on March 3: "We're going to cut off all trade with Spain." No measure has followed. Spain recognized Palestine in May 2024 and banned arms sales to Israel in September 2025, and neither country has an ambassador in the other. On July 30 and 31, 2026 about 72,000 people, most of them young Moroccans, crossed irregularly into Ceuta, a Spanish city on the African coast. More than 80 died, and most of the others returned to Morocco within days. A Spanish judge is investigating whether Moroccan agents guided them. Morocco denies encouraging the crossings. Italy has checked non-EU travelers arriving from Spain since August 2026. Algeria, Spain's largest gas supplier, revived its friendship treaty with Spain in March 2026.
Allies and partners
FranceLargest export market; backed Spain over Ceuta
PortugalAnnual summits; shares the Iberian power grid
GermanyLargest goods supplier in 2025
United StatesNATO ally; Trump threatened to cut off trade
AlgeriaLargest gas supplier; treaty revived in 2026
- Gibraltar British territory claimed by Spain. Checks on its land border ended in July 2026.
- Melilla Spanish city on the African coast, claimed by Morocco. So is Ceuta, across from Gibraltar, where about 72,000 people crossed in July 2026.
- Naval Station Rota Spanish naval base where five US destroyers are based. Spain refused its use for strikes on Iran in March 2026.
- Spain
- Partner
- Tensions
Who does Spain trade with?
France bought 14.4% of Spain's goods exports in 2025, and Germany and China were the two largest suppliers (chart). In January to July 2026 China passed Germany. The EU took 61.8% of exports. Spain bought €42.3 billion more from China than it sold there. Spain built 2,274,026 vehicles in 2025, the second most in Europe after Germany, and exported 85.8% of them. Fruit and vegetables earned €26.0 billion, and Spain made about 40% of the world's olive oil in 2024/25. A record 96.8 million foreign tourists spent €134.7 billion in 2025. The economy grew 2.6% in 2025, and unemployment fell to 9.87% in the second quarter of 2026, below 10% for the first time since 2008. One in five of the 49.8 million people counted in July 2026 was born abroad. Most EU goods have paid a 10% US tariff since July 2026.
Sells to
Share of Spain's exports
- France14.4%
- Germany10.2%
- Portugal8.8%
Italy8.2%
United Kingdom6.4%- United States4.3%
Buys from
Share of Spain's imports
- Germany11.4%
China11.3%- France8.7%
- Italy7.2%
- United States6.8%
Netherlands4.8%
Goods, 2025. Shares of Spain's exports and imports in Spanish customs data (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Business, February 2026).
How strong is Spain's military?
Spain has 122,200 active troops (IISS), the smallest of the 41 armies with more than 120,000. SIPRI puts Spain's 2025 military spending at $40.2 billion, 2.1% of GDP and above 2% for the first time since 1994 (chart). NATO's estimate is 2.0%, against an alliance average of 2.86% in 2026. In June 2025 Prime Minister Sánchez called NATO's new 5% target "unreasonable, but also counterproductive," and in October 2025 President Trump said Spain should be thrown out of NATO. The state shipyard Navantia designed Australia's Hobart-class destroyers. The FCAS fighter jet Spain was developing with France and Germany was cancelled in June 2026. About 3,000 Spanish troops serve on NATO missions. Ceuta and Melilla lie outside the area NATO's treaty covers. Spain has no nuclear weapons. In 1966 a US bomber lost four hydrogen bombs over Palomares, and about 50,000 cubic meters of soil there are still contaminated.
Military spending as a share of GDP, NATO members, 2025
Full ranking →
Poland4.5%- United States3.1%
- United Kingdom2.4%
- Germany2.3%
- Spain2.1%
- France2.0%
- Italy1.9%
Canada1.6%
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, 2026 edition
Why does Spain claim Gibraltar?
Spain says Gibraltar, a British territory of 37,936 people (2022), was taken by force. An Anglo-Dutch fleet captured it on August 4, 1704. The Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 gave the town and port to Britain "for ever," with first refusal for Spain if Britain gives it up. Spain says the isthmus where the airport stands was never handed over. Gibraltarians want to stay British: 12,138 to 44 in a 1967 referendum, and 98.97% against shared sovereignty in 2002. After Brexit, a UK-EU treaty signed on July 14, 2026 ended checks on the land border the next day. Spanish officers now carry out Europe's Schengen passport checks at Gibraltar's port and airport. About 15,500 people cross from Spain to work in Gibraltar each day, 70% of them Spanish. Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said Spain "does not change one comma" of its claim. The European Parliament and the UK Parliament have not yet approved the treaty.