Full country name: Kingdom of Spain

Area: 504,784 sq km

Population: 40.5 million (growth rate 0.1%)

Capital city: Madrid (pop 3 million)

Regions: Spain is made up of 17 autonomous regions.

People: Spaniards (though Catalans and Basques display a fierce independent spirit)

Languages: Castilian Spanish (official) 74%, Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2%

Time Zone: GMT/UTC plus 1 hour in winter, or two hours in summer (from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September)

Religion: 90% Roman Catholic

Government: Parliamentary monarchy

Prime Minister: José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

GDP: $720.8 billion

GDP per head: $18,000

Annual growth: 4%

Inflation: 2.9%

Major industries: textiles & apparel, food & beverages, metals, chemicals, shipbuilding, tourism

Major trading partners: EU (esp. France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, UK, Benelux), US

Member of EU: yes

Euro zone participant: yes

Flag description: three horizontal bands of red (top), yellow (double width), and red with the national coat of arms on the hoist side of the yellow band; the coat of arms includes the royal seal framed by the Pillars of Hercules, which are the two promontories (Gibraltar and Ceuta) on either side of the eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar