Basque Country is waiting for you
Getting ready for the future
The most important macroeconomic indicators place the Basque Country among the regions with the highest quality of life and among the most attractive places to work and do business in.
Basque Country, one of the world’s leaders in sustainable human development
The Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) establishes a world ranking for countries considering the conditions of life in them. The report estimates a human development index (HDI) for the countries in the ranking. The HDI value ranges 0 to 1 and is calculated considering life expectancy, access to education, adult (15+) literacy rate and GDP per capita. According to a report by the Basque Institute of Statistics (Eustat), the HDI value of the Basque Country would be 0.924, which would place it fourth in the world human development ranking, behind Norway (0.955), Australia (0.938) and United States(0.937), and ahead of Netherlands and Germany.
Concerning life expectancy, in the Basque Country it was 79.0 years for men and 85.7 for women in 2010. The age for women is the highest across the EU-27, according to the figures published by Eustat.
Life expectancy at birth in the EU-27 (2010)
At the global level, the Basque Country is in the fifth place in life expectancy, if both the Eurostat and World Bank figures are taken into account.
Life expectancy at birth in the world (2011)
BasqueCountry: one of the highest gdps per capita in Europe
The most important macroeconomic indicators show that the Basque Country stands out in the European Union for its GDP per capita. It amounts to €30,200, 132% of the EU average, as seen in the latest figures available (2010) recently announced by Eurostat, the office that provides statistical information to the institutions of the EU.
GDP per capita in the EU-27 (2010, EU-27=100)
At the global level, the Basque Country is in the fifth place in life expectancy, if both the Eurostat and World Bank figures are taken into account.
Life expectancy at birth in the world (2011)
BasqueCountry: one of the highest gdps per capita in Europe
The most important macroeconomic indicators show that the Basque Country stands out in the European Union for its GDP per capita. It amounts to €30,200, 132% of the EU average, as seen in the latest figures available (2010) recently announced by Eurostat, the office that provides statistical information to the institutions of the EU.
GDP per capita in the EU-27 (2010, EU-27=100)
Source: EUROSTAT and EUSTAT.
The information provided by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) on the GDP per capita in the Spanish State is more recent. According to INE, the Basque Country had a GDP per capita of €30,829 in 2012, 35.4% higher than the Spanish average (€22,772). These figures mean that the Basque Country is the region in the Spanish State with the highest GDP per capita.
Source: INE.
Basque Country: one of the highest productivity rates in Europe
Regarding labour productivity per hour worked, Eustat datashow that the Basque Country had 128.1 points in 2011, as compared to the EU-27 (100.0) and other leading economies like Germany (106.7), Austria (116.8), Denmark (110.5) or Belgium (127.7). This positive record results from a highly qualified workforce, which raises productivity levels, and the importance given to ICT-based industries, among other factors.
Source: Eurostat (4/3/2013) and Eustat, ‘Labour productivity per worker 2011’. The table has been modified so as to show figures in descending order. Also, the name used by the sources for the Basque Country was ‘C. A. Euskadi’.
Human Capital: the basque country as a european leader in tertiary education attainment and one of the regions with the highest expenditure per student
Human capital is one of the greatest strengths of the Basque Country. The region has a great number of people with university degrees and a good proportion of science and technology university graduates. Up to 81.1% of the population completed secondary school, and 26% of the citizens aged 24 to 64 studied at the university, compared to 23.1% in the EU-25. In this group, 25.9% have degrees in science and technology, whereas in the EU-25 the proportion is only 13.1%. Besides, 13.1% work on some type of research.
The Basque Country stands out for tertiary education attainment (university and vocational education) by the population aged 24 to 65. Eurostat data indicate that 44.1% of the people in this age group studied at the university or in vocational schools. This proportion is higher than in any other country in the EU-27, including Finland (38.1), Ireland (37.3) or Norway (36.9), which followed the Basque Country in the ranking. Moreover, this percentage is way above the European average (25.9%).
Source: Eurostat (5-27-2011).
In addition, the Basque Country is one of the European leaders in expenditure per student, a key aspect of human capital development. There is evidence that the Basque Country takes the future of Basque youth seriously.
The total expenditure per student in educational institutions from primary to tertiary levels in the Basque Country was 12,048 PPP (purchasing power parity) in 2009, ranking ahead of Spain (9,800), the OECD average (9,252), the EU (9,122) and countries like France (9,913) or Germany (9,779).
Source: OECD (2012), ‘Education at a Glance’, Table B1.2: ‘Annual expenditure per student by educational institutions on core services, ancillary services and R&D (2009)’. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932665905.
Last Updated: 21/08/2012
Innovation potencial
The Altran Index for Potential Innovation, which measures the innovation capacity of European countries and regions, as well as the ‘potential to increase this capacity’, points at the Basque Country as an autonomous community ‘with greater innovation capacity than the average in the European countries.’ The Basque Country was given the highest value (1.0), as seen in the chart below (letters ‘PV’ on the horizontal axis), the same as Sweden or Finland. In the same chart, the Basque Country has twice the value of the EU (0.47):
Facts & figures:
GDP per capita: €30,200, or 132% of the EU average.
Gross domestic investment in R&D: 2.10%.
Scientific journals cited in the world (excellence): 10.5%.
Doctors from outside the EU compared to the total in the country: 17.1%.
An economy open to the world
The Basque economy is open to the world. In the Basque Country there are more than 300 foreign capital companies. Also, the region is home to leading international companies like Aerospace Engineering, ArcelorMittal, Boccard, Bombardier, Bridgestone, Degremont, Didier, Formica, Global Energy, Holding Gonvarri, MeadWestvaco, Medex, Microsoft, Onduline, Outokumpu, Smurfit Kappa, Textron International, Vedior Management, Wärtsilä, ZF Sachs, and many others.
The Basque volume of exports is impressive, with products being sold to different countries in Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Sweden, etc.), Africa (Morocco, Algeria, South Africa, etc.), America (Brazil, Chile, Cuba, etc.) and Asia (China, India, Japan, etc.). In the rankingpublished by Eustat in 2012, the Basque Country exported goods for €20,302,644,000, mainly to France, Germany, USA, UK, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Mexico, the Netherlands and Venezuela.
As to imports, the Basque Country purchased foreign goods for a total €15,508,296,000, which means that there was a positive balance (exports/imports) or trade surplus of nearly €4,800,000,000.
Source GDP: INE, ‘Spanish regional accounts’ (2008).
Source exports: Eustat.
Petrol oil, auto parts and accessories, rubber tyres, vehicles for 5 to 10 passengers and goods transport vehicles are at the top of the list of Basque exports.
Source: Eustat, ‘Foreign trade statistics (ECOMEX) (in thousands of euro).