The small Lleida municipality of La Vall de Boí leads Spain in hotel density, with 40.29 establishments per thousand inhabitants. It is followed by Cabrales in Asturias with 38 per thousand and Naut Aran in Lleida with 37.50 per thousand. Naut Aran also ranks first in Spain for the number of cafés, bars, and restaurants per thousand inhabitants, at 44.27, ahead of other compact, highly touristic towns such as Sallent de Gállego in Huesca, Potes in Cantabria, Cadaqués in Girona, El Port de la Selva in Girona, La Vall de Boí itself in Lleida, Alcalá del Júcar in Albacete, Noja in Cantabria, and Alp in Girona.”
These figures are only a few anecdotal insights drawn from the more than 43 million records contained in the interactive socio-economic fiches tool created by the Confederation of Economists of Spain (CGE). The latest functionalities of this tool were unveiled recently in Madrid.
The free web tool, launched in 2020, provides continuously updated data for all 8,131 municipalities, 376 counties, 270 action groups, 50 provinces, 17 autonomous communities, and the national total. It presents indicators across demographics, labor market, economic activity, income, taxation, housing and land use, social infrastructure, budgets, and environmental aspects, drawing from nearly 20 official sources.
The president of the CGE, Valentí Pich, highlighted the value of having objective, highly detailed data for decision making and for starting new business ventures. The event also featured Roberto Escudero, former dean-president of the College of Economists of León and former member of the National Statistical Institute; Carlos Alonso de Linaje, president of the Register of Economists Expert in Marketing; and Trinidad Valdivieso, economist and coordinator of the socio-economic fiches.
Cross-referencing the tool’s data allows the debunking of certain preconceived ideas about the socio-economic reality of Spanish municipalities, according to the CGE.
Comparing municipalities
For example, the data show that four municipalities in the province of Cáceres are among the ten towns with more than a thousand residents that have the highest number of bank offices per 1,000 inhabitants, averaging 31 per thousand.
Among towns with fewer than a thousand residents, Garai in Vizcaya has the highest net income per person and per household, at 29,639 euros and 88,769 euros respectively. Among towns with more than a thousand residents, Pozuelo de Alarcón in Madrid tops the list with 27,167 euros per person and 86,403 euros per household.
Another takeaway: of the ten municipalities with more than a thousand inhabitants, nine are located in the northern half of the country, with one in Málaga, in terms of residential cadastral value per inhabitant.
Data also show that among larger towns, the gap in residential cadastral value per inhabitant can be substantial, with Noja in Cantabria registering the highest figure at 169,027.10 euros, while Saucedilla in Cáceres records a much lower value at 9,167.32 euros.
When analyzing per capita income, current expenditures, and investments, two of the top ten municipalities belong to Guadalajara province, three to Teruel, and two to La Rioja.
In terms of vehicle density, eight of the ten municipalities with the most vehicles per thousand inhabitants are in the Madrid province.
Fifths of the ten towns with the highest foreign resident proportions are in Alicante, where the average share stands around 65 percent.
These are just a few examples of what the tool makes possible. Other dimensions include total land area, recent population growth, birth counts, the number of trucks, and the range of commercial establishments such as shops, hotels, bars, cinemas, and bank offices. The tool can also provide real-time, individual socio-economic fiches for all 8,131 municipalities, offering hundreds of data points on population structure, land use and farming, farm sizes and animal headcounts, types of food shops, supermarkets, housing, budgets, athletic facilities, health facilities, electoral results, land taxation, and a wide array of other indicators.