Terrain: large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills;
Pyrenees in north
Natural resources: coal, lignite, iron ore, uranium, mercury, pyrites, fluorspar, gypsum, zinc, lead, tungsten, copper, kaolin, potash, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 31% permanent crops: 10% meadows and pastures: 21% forest and woodland: 31% other: 7%
Irrigated land: 33,600 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: pollution of the Mediterranean Sea from raw sewage and
effluents from the offshore production of oil and gas; air pollution;
deforestation; desertification
natural hazards: periodic droughts
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur
94, Desertification, Law of the Sea
Note: strategic location along approaches to Strait of Gibraltar
@Spain:People
Population: 39,404,348 (July 1995 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 17% (female 3,214,606; male 3,446,643)
15-64 years: 68% (female 13,377,839; male 13,457,683)
65 years and over: 15% (female 3,461,367; male 2,446,210) (July 1995
est.)
Population growth rate: 0.27% (1995 est.)