Spain

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain (in Spanish and Galician : Reino de España, in Basque : Espainiako Erresuma, in Aranese dialect : Regne d'Espanha, in Catalan and Valencian : Regne d'Espanya), is a member state of the Union European Union (from 1 January 1986 ) and NATO (from 1982 ).

Organized in the form of a parliamentary monarchy , Spain is located in south-western Europe and has an area of 505 514 km² , [5] has 47 431 256 inhabitants ( 2020 data) and occupies 84.5% of the territory of Iberian Peninsula , shared with Portugal , Andorra and Gibraltar . It borders to the north-east with France (from which it is separated by the Pyrenees range ) and Andorra, to the south with the Mediterranean Sea and Gibraltar (a small possession of the United Kingdom ), to the west with Portugal and Morocco (via the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla , its exclaves ). He has disputes with Portugal for the town of Olivere and for the Selvagge Islands , located between Madeira and the Canary Islands , with the United Kingdom for Gibraltar, and with Morocco for Ceuta and Melilla. Finally, the exclave of Llívia belongs to Spain, as well as the island of the Pheasants in the Bidasoa river (in codomination with France).

Since 1561 , except for a short period between 1601 and 1606 , the capital is Madrid , which with more than three million inhabitants (about six million in the metropolitan area) is also the most populous city. The official language of the state is Spanish [1] . At the local level, Catalan , Valencian , Aranese (a Gascon dialect of Occitan ) in a valley of Catalonia , Galician and Basque , all enjoy a status of co-officiality, guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution and the autonomic legislations in their respective diffusion territories in the autonomous communities. Even the Asturian , the Leonese and the Aragonese , although they do not enjoy, respectively, in Asturias , Castile and León and Aragon , a regime of co-officialism with the Spanish, are the object of particular protection by the local authorities. Other languages spoken in the country have no official recognition.