The primary fact of Spanish economy, despite great improvement in recent years, is that Spain has long been one of the poorest countries in Europe. This must not be taken alone as evidence against the country's present economic management, but must be seen with the following problems as background:

 

1.    The Civil War caused devastation that is hard to imagine, both in human resources and in property.

 

2.    The great economic plans, which helped the rest of Europe to its feet after the World War, such as the Marshall plan, did not include Spain among the beneficiaries.

 

3.    The Spanish temperament and disregard for pure money-making prevented the rise of a class of energetic industrialists such as was seen in other European countries

 

4.    Agriculture had been neglected for centuries due to buildup of very large estates in the south and west, whose owners were able to subsist comfortably without exploiting or improving their land to the full. In the north there is the opposite problem of "minifundia," farms too small for subsistence.

 

5.    The geographical fragmentation of the country makes unified efforts such as mass transportation schemes costly and difficult.

 

6.    Mineral resources for fuel have been scanty. High-grade coal and oil must be imported at great cost.

 

7.    The attractions of higher pay in industrialized European countries, especially Germany, have drawn many of the most energetic Spanish workers out of their own country. Many small villages in Andalucia, Galicia, La Mancha and Castilla have been totally depopulated.

 

Even with these crippling defects, which the present Government inherited. Spain has been able to progress economically in recent years.

 

A great aid to Spanish economy has been the phenomenal rise in tourism, which shows signs only of increasing. This has been the number one earner of foreign currency for Spain for many years now.

 

With tourism coming to Spain, other industries, such as building, have likewise experienced a boom - Even the short-time visitor will not fail to notice the tremendous sprawl of new apartment buildings along the entire coast of the peninsula. These are mostly owned by wealthy northerners - Germans, Swedes, French and so on - who leave the buildings vacant after the tourist season is concluded.
It is the middle-class that has largely benefited from this building boom.

For more information, please have a look to:

CIA - The World Factbook

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sp.html