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Policy profile on 12 axes

How Spain Is Governed

Spain is a unitary state with strong regional or devolved governments that scores 0.74 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 45% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex marriage is legal. Below: the laws, institutions and public spending of Spain, scored on the same 12 axes as the test, with every indicator and source.

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Policy profile

The 12 axes, indicator by indicator

This profile describes the country's policy regime (laws, institutions and public spending) from published indices, not the views of its people or its current leaders. Data as of October 2026; each value shows its own year.

Ownership+0.45PublicPrivate4 indicators and sources
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): Typical of OECD economies: state utilities, rail, post, some energy (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Property Rights (0-100): 88 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Investment Freedom (0-100): 60 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Financial Freedom (0-100): 60 (2026). Source
Markets+0.40PlannedFree5 indicators and sources
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Business Freedom (0-100): 82.6 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Labor Freedom (0-100): 61.7 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Monetary Freedom (0-100): 78.2 (2026). Source
  • Regulatory Quality, estimate (-2.5 to 2.5): 0.42 (2025). Source
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): Typical of OECD economies: state utilities, rail, post, some energy (2026). Source
Welfare-0.50SharedSelf-reliant4 indicators and sources
  • General government total expenditure (% of GDP): 45.26 (2025). Source
  • Public social spending (% of GDP): 25.87 (2024). Source
  • Domestic general government health expenditure (% of GDP): 6.75 (2023). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Tax Burden (0-100): 58.2 (2026). Source
Authority-0.80DemocraticStrong leader2 indicators and sources
  • Liberal Democracy Index (0-1): 0.74 (2025). Source
  • Judicial constraints on the executive (0-1): 0.94 (2025). Source
Security-0.65LibertyOrder4 indicators and sources
  • Freedom in the World civil liberties score (0-60): 54 (2025). Source
  • World Press Freedom Index score (0-100): 75.42 (2026). Source
  • Death penalty status: Abolished for all crimes (2025). Source
  • Prison population per 100,000 people: 121 (2024). Source
Structure-0.50LocalCentral2 indicators and sources
  • Territorial form of the state: Regionalized or devolved unitary state (2025). State of autonomous communities; federal in practice by many measures. Source
  • Strong elected regional governments index (0-1): 0.99 (2025). Source
Morality-1.00ProgressiveTraditional3 indicators and sources
  • Same-sex marriage law (0 marriage, 1 civil union or partnership, 2 no recognition, 3 constitutional or statutory ban): Same-sex marriage legal (2026). Source
  • Abortion law: On request (within a gestational limit) (2025). Source
  • Women, Business and the Law: Legal Framework Index (0-100): 97.93 (2025). Source
Religion+0.05SecularReligious2 indicators and sources
  • Religion and the state: Secular state that recognizes, funds or partners with religions (concordats, church tax, recognized faiths), or religious personal-status law for some groups (2025). Source
  • Blasphemy or religious-insult law in force: In force (2025). Source
Technology-0.20EmbraceCaution3 indicators and sources
  • Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 1.49 (2023). Source
  • Nuclear power policy: Phase-out decided or completed, or new builds barred (2025). Closures scheduled 2027-2035. Source
  • Genetically modified crop cultivation: GM crops grown commercially (2025). Source
Culture-0.05MulticulturalNational identity4 indicators and sources
  • International migrant stock (% of population): 18.51 (2024). Source
  • Citizenship by birth in the territory: Conditional (a parent's residence or status, or at majority) (2025). Source
  • Residence required for ordinary naturalization (years; 0 = no ordinary route): 10 years (2025). Source
  • Dual citizenship for naturalizing adults: Restricted (some countries only, permission, or exceptions) (2025). Allowed with Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal. Source
Trade-0.60GlobalProtected4 indicators and sources
  • Tariff rate, applied, weighted mean, all products (%): 1.33 (2022). Source
  • Tariff rate, applied, simple mean, all products (%): 1.95 (2022). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Trade Freedom (0-100): 79.4 (2026). Source
  • Trade (exports + imports) (% of GDP): 69.45 (2025). Source
Foreign policy-0.70CooperationStrength5 indicators and sources
  • Military expenditure (% of GDP): 2.13 (2025). Source
  • Military conscription: None: volunteer forces or no military (2025). Source
  • Nuclear weapons status (0 none, 1 considers, 2 pursues, 3 possesses): No nuclear weapons program (2023). Source
  • Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: State party (2026). Source
  • Collective defense commitments: Integrated military alliance (NATO, a US mutual defense treaty, ANZUS, CSTO) (2026). Source

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Policy neighbours

Governed most like Spain

Every other country with a profile, tinted by how close its laws, institutions and public spending are to those of Spain on the same 12 axes. The percentage uses the 12 Axes match formula.

  1. 1United Kingdom89%
  2. 2Belgium88%
  3. 3Norway88%
  4. 4Germany87%
  5. 5Italy87%
Least similarIran36%
World map of countries by how similar their policy regime is to SpainClosest: 1. United Kingdom 89%, 2. Belgium 88%, 3. Norway 88%, 4. Germany 87%, 5. Italy 87%, 6. Austria 86%, 7. Croatia 85%, 8. Denmark 85%, 9. Finland 85%, 10. Czechia 84%. Least similar: Iran 36%. Every country is in the list after the map.Spain
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FAQ

Spain: questions

How is Spain governed, on the 12 axes?

Spain is a unitary state with strong regional or devolved governments that scores 0.74 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 45% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex marriage is legal. Its policy regime leans furthest toward Progressive on Morality (-1.00), Democratic on Authority (-0.80) and Cooperation on Foreign policy (-0.70), on a scale from -1 to +1.

Which countries are governed most like Spain?

On the same 12 axes, the closest policy regimes are the United Kingdom (89%), Belgium (88%) and Norway (88%). The furthest is Iran (36%). Matches use the same formula as the 12 Axes test.

Where does the data on Spain come from?

From 42 indicators dated 2022 to 2026, published by V-Dem, Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation, the IMF, the OECD, the World Bank, SIPRI, Reporters Without Borders, the World Prison Brief, UN DESA and others. Among them: a press freedom score of 75.4 out of 100 (RSF, 2026), 121 prisoners per 100,000 people (2024), military spending of 2.1% of GDP (SIPRI, 2025) and 19% of residents born abroad (UN DESA, 2024). Every value, year and source is listed in the profile above.

Does the profile describe what people in Spain think?

No. It describes the policy regime: laws, institutions and public spending. It does not measure public opinion or the speeches of the current government. To see which country is governed closest to your own views, take the 12 Axes test and open the country match on your result.

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