The future of Spain: five parties, two models
On April 28, Spaniards will go to the polls in a snap national election triggered by a deadlock over the 2019 budget. Whichever government emerges from the vote will have to deal with this and other longstanding economic issues such as persistently high unemployment, ballooning debt and how to finance the pensions system with an ageing population. And on the political front, immigration and the Catalan crisis will continue to shape the national agenda.
Spain in a snapshot
Spain has a population of 47 million, 19 million workers, and 3.6 million people out of a job – two million less than five years ago. There are 10 million people living under the poverty threshold.
It also has the world’s third-highest life expectancy after Japan and Switzerland. The state spends €9.7 million a year on pensions, less than what it makes to cover that expense. In fact, the state has been collecting less than what it spends for years, and the debt has ballooned to over a trillion euros, leading to financial costs that keep eroding the budget. Tax collection, in the meantime, has returned to 2009 levels.
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