Eurozone crisis explained

Spain, along with Greece, is one of the main countries at the centre of the financial crisis in the eurozone. To find out more about the problems it faces, see below.

Spain in numbers
  • Spain in numbers
  • Spain is the eurozone's 4th largest economy
  • One in four people is unemployed
  • House prices have dropped by 25% since 2008
  • The banking sector is highly indebted. Bankia, the country's
    fourth largest bank, recently asked for a €19bn bailout
  • By 2010, one in four Spaniards were at risk of poverty
    or social exclusion
Unemployment chart
  • 24.3%
  • Spain has the highest unemployment rate
    in the EU. It is even higher than Greece.
  • 51.5%
  • The majority of young
    people are unemployed
Unemployment map
  • Unemployment across Europe, 2011
  • In 2006, Spanish unemployment, at 8.5%, had been close to the EU average.
    Five years later, in 2011, it was twice as high at 21.7%.
Icons
  • The collapsing property market and recession have
    forced some of Spain's banks to seek government help.
  • Banks have 155.84bn euros of loans at risk of not being
    repaid. That is 9% of all loans.
  • Small, weak banks have been saved through mergers:
    the number of banks has shrunk from 45 to 11.
  • The government has injected 60bn euros into banks. They
    will also get up to 100bn euros in loans from the eurozone.
Government bond-yield chart
  • Regional governments, hit by a mixture of the property bust, recession and overspending, are also struggling. Some of them are having to ask the central government for help.
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