Population
Organization
Environment
Technology
Spain is a relatively small country. In order to accurately compare it to the rest of the world, it is important to know the make-up of the country. Comparatively, it is twice the size of Oregon. It is the home to approximately 39,107,912 people. The majority of the people are between the ages of 15-64. This is the largest category and represents 69% of the population. Only 15% are fourteen and under and 16% are sixty-five and older. Spain experiences moderate population growth and in 1997 it was estimated at .06
Their birth rate is 9.94 births/1,000 population. Their death rate is almost the same as their birth rate, it is 9.54 deaths for every 1,000 people. The infant mortality rate is 6.6 deaths for every 1,000 people. For every woman, 1.18 children are born. Their net migration rate is .66 per 1,000 people.
Spain is made up of many different ethnicities comprised mostly of Mediterranean and Nordic types. Ninety-nine percent of the population is Catholic with one percent other religions. Four different dialects of Spanish are spoken: Castilian, Catalan, Galician, and Basque. Spain has a fairly high literacy rate, 96% of the population over 15 can read and write.
Spain's labor force is made up of 12.475 million people. Of these workers, 62% work in the service industry; 29% work in manufacturing, mining, and construction jobs , and the remaining 9% of the labor force works in the agriculture industry.
ORGANIZATION
The second part of the P.O.E.T. Model, includes family structure, social structure, social stratification, political systems, culture, and economic systems.In conventional long form, Spain is referred to as the Kingdom of Spain. The Kingdom part of it reflects their type of government which is a parliamentary monarchy. They have three branches of government like the United States: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The Executive branch consists of a chief of state, a head of government, two vice presidents and a cabinet. The Chief of State is King Juan Carlos I. He has been in power since 1975. The king is a hereditary monarch and the president is elected. The Legislative branch is bicameral. There is Las Cortes Generales (The General Courts) which consists of the Senate and the Congress of Deputies. Members of both are elected by popular vote and serve in four year terms. Their Judicial branch consists of the Tribunal Supremo (Supreme Court).
Spain's capitalist economy is similar to many prospering countries and supports a GDP three-fourths that of the four leading West European economies. Its center-right government has staked much on gaining admission to the first group of countries to implement the European single currency by developing an austere 1997 budget. This budget included a wage freeze for public-sector employees. This was in hopes of meeting the Maastricht monetary convergence criteria. The government slashed spending by $1.6 billion in mid-1996 to ensure that Spain's deficit did not exceed its target of 4.4% of GDP for the year. Unemployment, nevertheless, remains the highest in the EU at about 22%. But the government, for political reasons, has made only limited progress in changing labor laws or reforming pension schemes, which are key to the sustainability of Spain's economic advances.
Spain's labor force is made up of 12.475 million people. Of those workers, 62% work in the service industry; 29% work in manufacturing, mining, and construction jobs , and the remaining 9% of the labor force works in the agriculture industry.
ENVIRONMENT
Environment, the third part of our model, covers the natural environment, the manmade environment (buildings, roads, etc.), geography, and the conditions of the average home. Spain is located in the Southwestern part of Europe, southwest of France. It borders the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean Sea, and the North Atlantic Ocean. Spain borders the countries of Andorra, France, Gibraltar, Portugal, and Morocco.The total area of land is 499,400 square miles and includes the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and five places of sovereignty on and off the coast of Morocco. Once again, it is twice the size of Oregon. It's climate is temperate with clear, hot summers in the interior and more moderate and cloudy weather along the coast. In the winter, it is cloudy and cold in the interior and partly cloudy and cool along the coast. The terrain is flat to dissected plateaus surrounded by rugged hills. The Pyrenees are located in the north. The elevation goes from the extremes of 0 meters to 3,718 meters.
Spain has many natural resources that include coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, zinc, lead, copper, and many others. Much of the land is arable, but periodically suffers from severe drought.
TECHNOLOGY
The last part of the P.O.E.T Model is technology. This looks at how technologically advanced a country is. Spain has an industrial production growth rate of 5% which means that it is opening more manufacturing plants and employing more people in the industrial sector, but on the other hand Spain still has airports with unpaved runways. Out of the total of 96 airports,14 have unpaved runways. This shows that while fairly advanced, Spain is not as advanced as the United States or many other parts of Europe.Spain imports approximately $118.3 billion worth of machinery, transport equipment, fuels, semifinished goods, foodstuffs, consumer goods, and chemicals. They are partners with the United States, the Middle East, and other developed countries.
Spain exports approximately $94.5 billion worth of cars and trucks, semifinished manufactured goods, foodstuffs, and machinery. They are partners with the United States and other developed countries.
Agriculture is big business in Spain. Their main agricultural products are grain, vegetables, olives, wine grapes, sugar beets, citrus, beef, pork, poultry products, and fish.
As far as mass media goes, Spain has 12.6 million telephones, a total
of 600 AM and FM radio stations, 12 million radios, 100 television stations,
and 15.7 million televisions. Spain has railways, highways, waterways, pipelines, ports and harbors, and airports. Highways make up the main channel of transportation with railways in second place.
This page was created by Sara Samhat as part of the requirements for FCS428 International Housing in the Spring of 1998 at California State University, Long Beach.
©1998
- This series of pages was developed in electronic form and made available
on-line by: Dr.
Lydia Sondhi, Family and Consumer Sciences, California State University,
Long Beach.
last updated: 06/05/98