Spain is the smallest of the ‘Big 5’ Western European countries in terms of population and GDP, although it is the second-largest country in Western Europe by area.
Agriculture accounts for 2.6% of economic output, with a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables exported from Spain to Northern Europe, and industrial production accounts for 23.2% with car manufacturing one of the most important manufacturing sectors.
Spain also has a very large tourism industry. The country has strong cultural ties with Latin America and is the second largest investor in the region after the USA.
There is more regional autonomy in Spain than in most other European countries and there are strong independence movements in the Basque Country (along the North Coast of Spain) and Catalonia, the area in the North East with Barcelona as its capital. In October 2017 the Parliament of Catalonia declared independence from the rest of Spain, a decision which was later suspended by the Constitutional Court. A number of leading Catalan politicians have been detained and others have fled the country.
From a market research perspective, Barcelona and Madrid are the most important centres and FieldworkHub is active in both cities. Although the Catalan language is widely spoken in Barcelona, most market research in Barcelona is still carried out in Spanish.
