Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the ninth or tenth largest economy by nominal GDP, and Spain has the 15th highest HDI. It is a member of the United Nations, European Union, NATO, OECD, and WTO.

The Spanish Empire expanded to include most parts of South and Central America, Mexico, southern and western portions of today’s United States, the Philippines, Guam and the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, parts of northern Italy, southern Italy, Sicily, cities in Northern Africa, as well as parts of what are now France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

Spain have four official languages. If there is one thing which all Spaniards love, it is to eat, drink and be merry, whether enjoying tapas over fine wine in Madrid, Seville or Barcelona, or the elaborate Basque Country equivalent, pintxos, over cider in the north.

Sport in Spain has been dominated by football since the early 20th century. Basketball, tennis, cycling, handball, motorcycling and, lately, Formula One are also important due to presence of Spanish champions in all these disciplines. Today, Spain is a major world sports power, especially since the 1992 Summer Olympics that were hosted in Barcelona and promoted a great variety of sports in the country. The tourism industry has led to an improvement in sports infrastructure, especially for water sports, golf and skiing.

Spanish cuisine consists of a great variety of dishes which stem from differences in geography, culture and climate. It is heavily influenced by seafood available from the waters that surround the country, and reflects the country’s deep Mediterranean roots.