GENERAL INFORMATION IOC Code: ESP Country: Spain Continent: Europe King: Juan Carlos I Capital: Madrid Main Cities: Barcelona, Valencia,
Sevilla, Zaragoza, Málaga, Bilbao,
Valladolid, Palma de Majorca,
Murcia, Córdoba, Hospitalet,
Alicante Currency: Euro (€) Official languages: Spanish Motto: Further beyond (Plus ultra)
POPULATION Population: 44 108 530 GDP/inhabitant (in US $):26 320 Density (inhabitants/km2):87.2 Average age (in years):38.7 Life expectancy (in years): 79.23
COMMUNICATION Internet code: .es Calling code: +34
DESCRIPTION
Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España, unofficially in Galician: Reino de España; Catalan: Regne d'Espanya; Basque: Espainiako Erresuma; Occitan: Regne d'Espanha), is the largest of the three sovereign nations that make up the Iberian Peninsula—the others are Portugal and Andorra—located in Southern Europe. To the west and to the south of Galicia, Spain borders Portugal. To the south, it borders Gibraltar and, through its cities in North Africa (Ceuta and Melilla), Morocco.
To the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it borders France and the tiny principality of Andorra. It also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a number of uninhabited islands on the Mediterranean side of the strait of Gibraltar, known as Plazas de soberanía, such as the Chafarine islands, the isle of Alborán, the "rocks" (peñones) of Vélez and Alhucemas, and the tiny Isla Perejil. In the northeast along the Pyrenees, a small exclave town called Llívia in Catalonia is surrounded by French territory.