- Long Name: Kingdom of Spain
- Capital City: Madrid
- Type of Government: parliamentary constitutional monarchy
- Date of Independence:1492
- National Holidays: National Day, 12 October (1492); year when Columbus first set foot in the Americas
- Chief of State: King FELIPE VI
- Head of Government: Prime Minister Mariano RAJOY
- Executive Branch: the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the monarch usually proposes the leader of the party or coalition with the largest majority of seats as president, who is then indirectly elected by the Congress of Deputies; election last held on 20 December 2015; vice president and Council of Ministers appointed by the president; note - because no party received a majority of the votes in both houses, and because the leaders of the parties with the most votes were unable to form a coalition to form a majority, new elections were held on 26 June 2016
- Legislative Branch:bicameral General Courts or Las Cortes Generales consists of the Senate or Senado (266 seats as of 2013; 208 members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and 58 appointed by the regional legislatures; members serve 4-year terms) and the Congress of Deputies or Congreso de los Diputados (350 seats; 348 members directly elected in 50 multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote and 2 directly elected from the North African Ceuta and Melilla enclaves by simple majority vote; members serve 4-year terms or until the government is dissolved)
- Judicial Branch: Court judges appointed by the monarch from candidates proposed by the General Council of the Judiciary Power, a 20-member governing board chaired by the monarch that includes presidential appointees, and lawyers and jurists confirmed by the National Assembly; judges can serve until age 70; Constitutional Court judges nominated by the National Assembly, executive branch, and the General Council of the Judiciary, and appointed by the monarch for 9-year terms
- subordinate courts: National High Court; High Courts of Justice (in each of the autonomous communities); provincial courts; courts of first instance
- Ambassador: Ambassador Ramon GIL-CASARES Satrustegui
- Embassy in the US: Serrano 75, 28006 Madrid
- Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
- US Ambassador: Ambassador James COSTOS
- Symbolism of their Flag: Pillars of Hercules; national colors: red, yellow
- National Symbols: Pillars of Hercules; national colors: red, yellow
- International Disputes: in 2002, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to reject any "shared sovereignty" arrangement; the Government of Gibraltar insists on equal participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater autonomy; Morocco protests Spain's control over the coastal enclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and the islands of Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Penon de Alhucemas, and Islas Chafarinas, and surrounding waters; both countries claim Isla Perejil (Leila Island); Morocco serves as the primary launching site of illegal migration into Spain from North Africa; Portugal does not recognize Spanish sovereignty over the territory of Olivenza based on a difference of interpretation of the 1815 Congress of Vienna and the 1801 Treaty of Badajoz
- Refugees inside and outside: 14,661
- Internally Displaced Persons: 440
- Stateless Persons: 440
- Illicit Drug Trafficking: despite rigorous law enforcement efforts, North African, Latin American, Galician, and other European traffickers take advantage of Spain's long coastline to land large shipments of cocaine and hashish for distribution to the European market; consumer for Latin American cocaine and North African hashish; destination and minor transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin; money-laundering site for Colombian narcotics trafficking organizations and organized crime