Themes
Each theme is told through three lenses: Spain against Europe, the differences between regions and how each figure has changed over time.
- Housing: why it is the issue of this electionThe 29 November election was called after Congress rejected two rental decrees. The data explains why housing is at the centre: since 2015 house prices have risen 80%, and wages 25%.
- Congress in dataHow the parties have voted in the 2,173 roll-call votes of this parliament: who votes with whom, who wins the votes and which government decrees fell.
- The parliament in data: how Spain has changed since July 2023The 29 November election closes the parliament that began with the July 2023 general election. Since then unemployment has fallen from 12.2% to 10.5%, although it is still the highest in the EU; GDP has grown 6.4%, a third of it from population growth; and the deficit has fallen to 2.4% of GDP, mostly in 2025 thanks to the lower cost of the measures for the energy crisis and the DANA floods, according to AIReF.
- Jobs: the labour reform, three years onThe labour reform of December 2021 changed employment contracts. Since then, temporary employees in the private sector have gone from 23.7% to 12.4%. Part of that change has gone into permanent seasonal contracts, and youth unemployment is still among the highest in the EU.
- 29 November general electionPolls, the 2023 results and who governs each region, updated until election day. With the methodology in plain sight.
- Demographics and pensions: an ageing countrySpain spends 13.2% of GDP on pensions and its median pension equals 81% of the median earnings of those about to retire, the second highest ratio in the EU. Real spending has risen 53.5% since 2008, and for every person over 64 there are fewer people in work than then. How to pay for pensions is one of the questions of the 29 November election.
- Immigration in dataOne in five residents of Spain was born in another country, and one in four among those of working age. They are younger than the population born here, work in almost the same proportion and more often below their qualifications. Ahead of the 29 November election we look at where they come from, where they live, how they fare at work, what the evidence says about their effect on the economy and what the 2026 extraordinary regularisation involves.
- Regional finance: who raises the money, who receives it and whom the regions oweThe regions run health and education, and together with municipalities they spend half of all public money. They are funded by a 2009 system that shares money out unevenly, and they owe more than half of their debt to central government. Both questions are open on 29 November: the bill to write off part of that debt lapsed when parliament was dissolved.
- Health: waiting lists and spending by regionMore than 850,000 people are waiting for surgery in the public health system, and how long they wait depends heavily on where they live. Spain spends less on public health care than the EU average, and households pay a larger share out of their own pockets. Spending more per inhabitant does not guarantee shorter waits either: across regions, the two are barely related.