Barcelona, capital of Catalonia
Catalonia is the most important region in terms of contribution to the Spanish GDP, and the second most important region in terms of population.
According to the information from the Statistics Institute of Catalonia (IDESCAT), the Catalan economy produced 204,128 million Euros in 2008, a similar result to the GDP of Finland, representing 18.6% of Spain and 1.6% of the European Union. Catalonia is one of the main driving forces of the Spanish economy.
In the European context, Catalonia proves a level of economic, social and cultural development that is comparable to that of more advanced European regions, such as France, Germany, Italy, Belgium or the United Kingdom. The Catalan per capita GDP, equivalent to 28,095 Euros, is similar to that of Germany. With a GDP growth between 3% and 3.9%, Catalonia maintains higher growth than the European average.
With more than 50,000 million exports, Catalonia is the main exporting region of Spain, especially in high technology products.
Barcelona maintains a diversified economic structure. One of its most important economic characteristics is the strong influence of the specialized and competitive industrial base focused on exporting, which considerably exceeds the average of other European metropolitan areas. Other service sectors such as tourism have a long tradition in the city.
Font: INE
The Euroregion
The Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion includes five different territories: Catalonia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands, Languedoc-Roussillon and the Mid-Pyrenees, which have a total of 13.6 million inhabitants, that is, 2.90% of the European population.
The five regions make up a complex territorial reality that represents a total area of 157,757 km2, covering approximately 3.40% of the entire European Union land, established at 4,632,318 km2.
Likewise, in terms of the significant economic data, the Euroregion’s contribution to the entire European Union is around 3% of the GDP.
Foreign investments
The city’s economic dynamism, its strategic location in the South of Europe and the clearly consolidated international projection have converted Barcelona’s economic area into an international platform of economic activities. It is a driving force at the head of Southern European development, especially for new emerging, competitive and international sectors with continuous growth in foreign markets.
Barcelona is the fourth best European city to locate a business.
- Barcelona’s economic area concentrates 17% of foreign investment projects received in Spain.
- More than 3,000 foreign companies operate out of Catalonia.
- Over 55% of the German, French and North American companies in Spain are located in Catalonia.
- 70% of the Japanese companies that operate in Spain have their headquarters in Catalonia.
