Spainfographics 11

The Galician gap, the NINI low, the EU working week, castle Spain, and cash-carrying endures.

Photo by Chris Boland on Unsplash

Welcome to the latest edition of La Comunidad’s Spainfographics - frequent servings of interesting, relevant, quirky infographics that help explain where Spain is today, and where it’s heading.

More importantly, these are the kind of facts that inform my reporting and opinions.

I hope you find these informative - the floor is open (in the comments section) to give your two cents. What surprised you? What trends do you think will soon change? Have your say below.

But before we get into it, I have a La Comunidad Mailbag special coming up - this is your chance to ask anything about Spain (it can be anything). You can ask me here.

You can check out the last Mailbag special here. And as always, paid La Comunidad subscribers get priority.

Housekeeping done, here’s Spainfographics 11.

Galicia’s entrepreneurial gap

Headline: Northern Portugal creates new businesses at twice the rate of Galicia - 15.8% versus 7.1% - measured as new firms opening each year as a share of all active companies.

New business creation in Europe: new firms as a share of all active companies. (La Voz de Galicia)

Spain's low high-earner bar

Headline: According to the latest INE data, the median full-time salary in Spain was €24,497 in 2024

Earning more than €50,000 a year in Spain puts you in the top 10% of earners nationwide.

Annual salary distribution in Spain: share of workers at each income bracket. (La Voz de Galicia)

Spain's new NINI low

Headline: The share of 15 to 29-year-olds in Spain neither working nor in education fell to 11.5% in 2025 - the lowest on record since Eurostat began tracking the figure in 2002. The EU average is 11%.

*NINI comes from the Spanish “ni estudia, ni trabaja” - neither studying, nor working.

Rate of young people neither studying nor working as a % of 15 to 29-year-olds (El País)

Spanish property prices: Ain’t no stoppin’ us now

Headline: Spain's average property price hit €2,315.7 per square metre in Q1 2026 - up 13.9% on the same period the year before.

The sharpest rises were in Segovia (19.1%), Valencia (18.8%) and Cantabria (17.4%).

Housing price growth (%) in Spain during Q1 2026 compared to the same period in 2025 (El País)

Spain’s working week

Headline: In 2025, people in the EU aged 20-64 worked (both full and part time) an average of 35.9 hours per week in their main job.

The actual hours worked per week across the EU in 2025 (Eurostat)

Spain clings to cash

Headline: Six in ten payments at shops, restaurants and petrol stations in Spain are still made in cash.

How Europeans pay in shops, restaurants and petrol stations. Cash · Card · Mobile app · Other (El Mundo)

Headline: Spain dropped 8 percentage points in cash use between 2022 and 2024.

How much has cash use fallen by country, 2022 to 2024 (El Mundo)

Catalonia: Spain’s castle corner

Headline: Barcelona province has the highest concentration of Spain's 10,000+ castles. According to El País, more than half of them nationwide are at risk of collapse.

Distribution of Spain's 10,362 castles (El País)

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Photo of the week: Celebrations in Plaza de María Pita, A Coruña following Deportivo La Coruña’s promotion back to the top flight of Spanish football after eight years.