Spain is a country in southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France. Spain consists of 19 autonomous communities including the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, and three small Spanish possessions off the coast of Morocco - Islas Chafarinas, Penon de Alhucemas, and Penon de Velez de la Gomera.

The total area of Spain is 504,782 sq km.

Spain has

borders with Andorra (63.7 km), France (623 km), Gibraltar (1.2 km), Portugal (1,214 km), Morocco (Ceuta) (6.3 km), Morocco (Melilla) (9.6 km).

The Spanish climate is considered temperate; clear, hot summers in the interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in the interior, and partly cloudy and cool along the coast.

The population of Spain is 40,341,462 (July 2005).

Castilian Spanish is the official language nationwide and is spoken by 74% of the population. Catalan is spoken by 17%, Galician is spoken by 7%, Basque is spoken by 2%. These languages are official regionally.

Religion: 94% of the people are Roman Catholic.

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Copyright 2005 Hugh Griffin