IP03

30 // iberian.propery / 2017

dossier// ISSUE: TOP IBERIAN cities

Madrid, the great

Iberian capital

In the geographic centre of Iberia, Madrid continues to grow on every

front and make its mark in the international sphere. More than the Spanish

capital, it is commonly known as the great Iberian capital.

A vibrant, youthful and cosmopolitan city, Ma-

drid is also the principal centre for finance and

decision-making in Spain. With an economy

that has an efficient market orientation, Madrid

stands out for having a lighter tax burden than

the other Spanish regions.

The capital has also been gaining increasing

recognition as an investment destination, at-

tracting 56.8% of the direct foreign investment

that entered the country between 1993 and

2016. Furthermore, it is currently considered the

3rd best city in Europe to set up multinational

headquarters, concentrating 40% of the foreign

companies established in Spain.

Housing some of the best European universi-

ties and business schools, and with one of the

highest university student populations in Europe

– 265.000 -, the highly skilled human capital is

another of Madrid’s qualities, where 46% of the

resident population has a university degree.

The quality of the region’s infrastructures is an-

other one of its strong points. Madrid’s Barajas

airport is the largest in Spain and the 5th largest

in Europe, both in terms of passenger and cargo

transportation. With direct connections to 187

destinations in 68 countries, last year alone, it

received more than 50 million passengers, an

average of 137.000 per day.

Area: 8.030 km² (1.6% of Spain)

Population: 6.435 million

(13.8% of Spain)

Visitors (2015):

11.17 million

GDP (2015): € 203.62 billion

(18.7% of Spain)

R&D outlay: € 3.43 billion

(25.8% of Spain)

R&D / GDP (2015): 1.75 %

TOP Spanish region per capita

GDP: € 31,812