Section 01 — Economy
Growth Outpaces Peers, Inflation Creeps Back
Spain has been the eurozone's standout performer for three consecutive years, driven by tourism, immigration-fuelled job growth and EU recovery-fund investment. A Middle East oil shock in 2026 revived inflation just as markets expected the ECB to hold steady, and unemployment — still the second-highest in the EU — ticked back up in the seasonally weak first quarter.
Fresh — GDP: Banco de España Dec 2025 projection · Unemployment: INE Q1 2026 · CPI: INE Jun 2026 · ECB Rate: Jun 2026
Source: Banco de España · Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) · European Central Bank
GDP Growth 2025 / 2026 Proj.
+2.9%
Banco de España's December 2025 projection for full-year 2025, moderating to a projected 2.2% in 2026 as higher ECB rates and the Middle East energy shock weigh on activity. Private forecasters, including CaixaBank Research, have since trimmed the 2026 estimate further to around 2.1%.
↔ Third straight year outpacing the euro area · BdE Dec 2025 / CaixaBank Jun 2026
INE's flash estimate put Q1 2026 GDP growth at 2.7% year-on-year, matching Q4 2025's pace, with quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.6%. Household consumption and investment have driven most of the expansion, while the external sector has made a negative contribution as import growth outpaces exports — a pattern Banco de España expects to persist through 2026.INE Quarterly National Accounts Q1 2026 · Banco de España Economic Bulletin 2026 Q1
Unemployment Rate Q1 2026
10.83%
Up nine-tenths from Q4 2025's 9.93% — an 18-year low — as job destruction and a larger workforce combined in the seasonally weak first quarter. Spain still posts the second-highest unemployment rate in the EU and OECD, behind only Finland (INE Labour Force Survey, EPA).
▲ Reversing Q4 2025's 18-year low · INE EPA Q1 2026
Consumer Price Index (CPI) Jun 2026
3.2%
Seventh consecutive month above the ECB's 2% target. The VAT on electricity and gas reverted to its full 21% rate on 1 June 2026 after energy prices triggered an automatic expiry clause, while fuel prices remain cushioned by a temporary reduced VAT tied to the Middle East conflict's oil-price shock. Core inflation eased slightly to 2.9%.
▲ Above target for 7 straight months · INE Jun 2026
Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 temporarily cut VAT on electricity and gas, but the relief expired automatically once energy prices crossed a set threshold — lifting the housing/utilities CPI category by more than 3 percentage points in June alone. A parallel reduced 10% VAT on motor fuel is still in effect and is due to lapse on 1 July 2026, which analysts expect to add further upward pressure.INE Consumer Price Index, June 2026 · Moody's Analytics Spain CPI note, Jul 2026
ECB Deposit Rate Jun 2026
2.25%
The European Central Bank raised its three key rates by 25 basis points on 11 June 2026 — its first hike in three years — after oil prices spiked toward $120/barrel amid renewed conflict in the Middle East. The rate applies uniformly across the euro area, including Spain, and was held unchanged at the July meeting.
▲ First ECB hike in three years · ECB Jun 2026
Housing Price Index (INE)
+12.9%
Year-on-year rise in Q4 2025 — among the fastest in the EU — as a persistent supply shortage and strong demand, including tourism-linked investment, continue to outpace new construction. Idealista's asking-price data show prices still accelerating into mid-2026.
▲ Fastest pace since the pre-2008 housing boom · INE Q4 2025
Youth Unemployment (15-24)
23.5%
Down sharply from the 2013 peak of 56.2%, and from 27.0% as recently as 2024, but still the highest youth unemployment rate among the EU's larger economies (Eurostat, Jan 2026).
↔ Improving long-term, still an EU outlier · Eurostat Jan 2026
Section 02 — Fiscal Health
Best Deficit Since 2008 — Debt Still Above 100% of GDP
Spain closed 2025 with its lowest budget deficit in 18 years and its first primary surplus in years, prompting a rare simultaneous upgrade from all three major ratings agencies. General government debt, however, remains above 100% of GDP, and an ageing population is adding long-term pressure to pension and healthcare spending.
Fresh — Deficit: Ministerio de Hacienda, closed 31 Mar 2026 · Debt: Banco de España Q1 2026 · Credit Rating: Sept 2025
Source: Ministerio de Hacienda y Función Pública · Banco de España · Tesoro Público
★ Context: Spain's 2025 general government deficit of 2.18% of GDP is its lowest since 2008 and beats the government's EU-agreed target for the sixth consecutive year. All three major ratings agencies upgraded Spain's sovereign credit rating within days of each other in September 2025.
🏛️ Public Finances — 2025 Close & 2026 Outlook
General Government Deficit 2025 (closed)
€36.78 billion, or 2.18% of GDP — the lowest deficit since before the 2008 financial crisis, down seven-tenths from 2024's 2.9% (Ministerio de Hacienda, closed 31 Mar 2026).
2.18%
of GDP · Hacienda
of GDP · Hacienda
Primary Balance 2025
A primary surplus of €3.53 billion (0.21% of GDP) — public revenue exceeded spending once interest payments are excluded, driven by a 10.4% jump in tax receipts on record employment (Ministerio de Hacienda).
+0.21%
of GDP · surplus
of GDP · surplus
General Government Debt
100.8% of GDP at end-2025, still more than 40 points above the EU's 60%-of-GDP reference value, though down from a pandemic-era peak above 119% (Banco de España).
100.8%
of GDP · BdE
of GDP · BdE
Sovereign Credit Rating
S&P, Moody's and Fitch all upgraded Spain within days of each other in September 2025, citing a more balanced growth model, a stronger banking sector and an improving labour market.
A+ / A3 / A
S&P / Moody's / Fitch
S&P / Moody's / Fitch
Despite the improving headline numbers, Banco de España and AIReF (Spain's independent fiscal authority) have both flagged that an ageing population will push pension and long-term care spending higher over the next decade, and that the current pace of debt reduction depends on growth staying above the euro area average — a gap that has narrowed since the ECB resumed raising rates in mid-2026.Banco de España macroeconomic projections, Dec 2025 · AIReF fiscal sustainability reports
Section 04 — Governance
A Judiciary Tested by Its Own Government
Spain's minority coalition, in office since a contested November 2023 investiture, has continued to govern even as a widening set of corruption investigations has reached the Prime Minister's own party, his wife, his brother and a former Attorney General. Independent courts have pressed ahead regardless of who is implicated — including convicting a sitting Attorney General for the first time in Spain's modern history.
Fresh — CPI: Transparency International Feb 2026 · Investiture: Nov 2023 · Court proceedings: ongoing as of Jul 2026
Source: Transparency International · Congreso de los Diputados · Tribunal Supremo
EDITORIAL NOTE: Governance data presented non-partisan. Legal proceedings described here are ongoing; defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted, and several deny wrongdoing. Included for completeness of the public record, not political judgment.
49
of 182
CPI 2025
Score: 55
CPI 2025
Score: 55
Corruption Perceptions Index 2025 — Rank 49, Score 55
Spain's score fell one point and its rank slipped three places to 49th of 182 countries — its lowest recorded position. Transparency International attributed the slide to a broader stalling of anti-corruption reform across Western Europe, not a Spain-specific finding.
▼ Lowest recorded position · TI Feb 2026
Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2025 (10 Feb 2026)
1st
Sitting AG
convicted
convicted
Independent Judiciary — First Sitting Attorney General Convicted
In a split 5-2 ruling, Spain's Supreme Court found Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz — a government appointee — guilty of leaking confidential information and banned him from office for two years, the first time in Spain's modern history a sitting Attorney General has faced and lost a criminal trial. The government said it "respected the decision but does not share it." García Ortiz denies wrongdoing and can appeal to the Constitutional Court.
↔ Courts acted independently of the government that appointed him · Tribunal Supremo 2025
Tribunal Supremo ruling, 2025 · Associated Press
2023
Minority
coalition
investiture
coalition
investiture
Minority Government Under Legal Pressure
Pedro Sánchez was invested Prime Minister on 16 November 2023 with 179 of 350 votes, leading a PSOE-Sumar coalition backed by regional parties including ERC, Junts, EH Bildu and the PNV. Since then, prosecutors have pursued separate corruption investigations involving his wife Begoña Gómez (charged with embezzlement and influence peddling, denies the charges), his brother David Sánchez (on trial over public-employment allegations), a former party organisation secretary, and former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (named a suspect over a COVID-era airline bailout, denies wrongdoing). Sánchez himself has not been charged in any case and has said the minority government intends to serve its full term to 2027.
↔ Governing continues amid ongoing investigations · Jul 2026
Congreso de los Diputados investiture record, Nov 2023 · Tribunal Supremo case filings · Euronews, CNN, Associated Press, 2026
The July 2023 election produced a hung parliament. After PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo's investiture attempt failed in September 2023, Sánchez secured a second term by agreeing to a contested amnesty law for those involved in Catalonia's 2017 independence referendum, in exchange for the support of Junts and ERC — a deal that remains a point of continued political and legal dispute.Congreso de los Diputados investiture records · 2023 Spanish government formation, official parliamentary record
Section 05 — Spain in the World
Ratings Up, Rankings Down
Spain's economic turnaround has been recognised by every major credit-rating agency and by a record wave of tourists, and its electricity grid is now one of Europe's greenest. Independent monitors of press freedom and corruption, meanwhile, both recorded some of Spain's worst scores in years, and its runaway housing costs are increasingly cited as a European outlier.
Fresh — Credit Ratings: Sept 2025 · Tourism: INE Jan 2026 · CPI: TI Feb 2026 · Press Freedom: RSF May 2026
Source: Transparency International · Reporters Without Borders · Red Eléctrica · INE · S&P / Moody's / Fitch
EDITORIAL NOTE: Wins and gaps shown equally. All from internationally recognised independent bodies or official grid/statistics agencies. No political judgment.
🏆 Where Spain Leads
A+
S&P
Moody's A3
Fitch A
Moody's A3
Fitch A
Sovereign Credit Rating — Triple Upgrade
S&P, Moody's and Fitch each upgraded Spain within days of one another in September 2025, citing a more balanced growth model, improving labour market and strengthening banking sector. Moody's specifically flagged Spain's renewable-energy competitiveness as a supporting factor.
↔ Simultaneous upgrade from all three major agencies · Sept 2025
S&P Global Ratings · Moody's Investors Service · Fitch Ratings, Sept 2025
97M
Tourists
2025
Record
2025
Record
Record Tourism — 97 Million International Visitors
A new all-time high, up 3.5% on 2024, with visitor spending rising even faster (+6.8%) to about €135 billion — reinforcing Spain's position among the two or three most-visited countries on Earth. Growth was accompanied by tighter short-term rental rules in major cities amid housing-affordability concerns.
↔ All-time high for the third straight year · INE, Jan 2026
INE Tourist Movement at Borders (FRONTUR) & Tourist Spending Survey (EGATUR), Jan 2026
55.5%
of electricity
generation
2025
generation
2025
Renewable Electricity — Record 55.5% of the Mix
Renewables generated a record 150.8 TWh of Spain's electricity in 2025, with wind (21.6%) the largest single source, ahead of nuclear, solar and hydro — one of the highest renewable shares among large European economies.
↔ Record renewable generation · Red Eléctrica, Mar 2026
Red Eléctrica, "The Spanish Electricity System in 2025," Mar 2026
⚠ Where Spain Faces Hard Questions
49
of 182
CPI 2025
Score 55
CPI 2025
Score 55
⚠ Corruption Perceptions — Below Portugal, Italy and Cyprus' Neighbours
Spain now sits alongside Cyprus and Fiji at 49th, two places below Portugal (56) and just ahead of Italy and Poland (53 each) — a fall of three places since 2024, and Spain's lowest-ever position on the index (Transparency International).
▼ Fallen three places since 2024 · TI Feb 2026
Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2025
29
of 180
Press
Freedom
Press
Freedom
⚠ Press Freedom — Down Six Places
Spain fell six positions in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index amid chronic job insecurity for journalists, a rise in abusive lawsuits used to intimidate reporters, and criticism from RSF that the government has not repealed the most contested parts of the 2015 public-security law critics call the "gag law." Spain remains rated "rather good" overall.
▼ Fell six places in one year · RSF, 30 Apr 2026
Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2026
+12.9%
Housing
Price Index
YoY
Price Index
YoY
⚠ Housing Affordability — Among the Fastest-Rising in Europe
INE's Housing Price Index rose 12.9% year-on-year in Q4 2025, among the steepest increases in the EU, driven by a structural housing shortage and demand linked to tourism and foreign buyers. The government has responded with tighter short-term rental regulation in major cities, and the latest CIS barometer found housing is now seen as the country's single biggest problem.
▼ Fastest housing inflation since before 2008 · INE Q4 2025
INE Housing Price Index, Q4 2025 · Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda
🔒
Data Integrity Promise
Every number on SpainScorecard traces to an official Spanish government publication (INE, Banco de España, Ministerio de Hacienda, Tesoro Público), an internationally recognised body (IMF, OECD, Transparency International, Reporters Without Borders, WIPO, UNDP), or a directly cited Supreme Court / parliamentary record. We never estimate. Where data is unavailable, we say so. No political party funds or influences this site. Refreshed every 1st and 15th of every month.