Madrid AC

• The Madrid Autonomous Community has the largest GDP. Furthermore, its higher relative growth has allowed the region to gain importance and increased its share of Spanish GDP to 19.4% from 17.7% in 2000.
• The region has had great demographic dynamism in recent decades, thanks to migration flows both from abroad and from other Autonomous Communities. With 7 million inhabitants, 14.3% of the total population, it is the third most highly populated region.
• GDP per capita stands at 38,435 euros, the highest in the country and 36.5% above the average. In recent years, its relative position has followed a slight downward trend, due to strong population growth.
• In terms of sectoral composition, the region is notable for the relative importance of professional and industry-related services (40.5% vs. 28.5% on average in Spain), whereas agricultural activities (0.1% vs. 2.6%) and manufacturing (6.3% vs. 12.5%).
• Reflecting the reduced importance of manufactured goods, this region is not a major exporter, with exports of goods accounting for 22.6% of GDP (28.9% in Spain). Despite this, it is the region with the second-highest volume of exports, totalling 51.592 billion euros in 2023 (12.4% of all exports). The main export sectors are chemical products (27.5% of the total), above all pharmaceuticals; energy products (13.7%) – oil products and electricity – which are recorded by the companies; and transport equipment (9.9%). Madrid exports 54% of all of Spain's engines, 36% of its office and  telecommunications equipment and 22% of its chemical products.

Madrid´s economy has remained highly buoyant in recent years, only surpassed by the island regions, mainly thanks to the momentum of market services and strong employment, which, coupled with the upturn in foreign (city) tourism, has boosted consumer spending.

In 2024 and 2025, Madrid will continue to be a key driver of the Spanish economy, with GDP growth of 2.9% and 2.5%, respectively (2.8% and 2.3% for the country as a whole). The region will benefit from the improving inflation picture, falling interest rates, a buoyant labour market and an expansionary fiscal policy in the region. Furthermore, due to its strong focus on high value-added business services, Madrid is well positioned to capitalise on the boost in investment being provided by European funds.

It has been among the most buoyant regions in terms of employment. In 2023, the number of registered workers affiliated to Social Security rose by 3.9% (2.7% in Spain), while in 2024 it continues to grow at a far faster-than-average rate (3.0% year-on-year in September vs 2.3%): job creation in education, professional activities and general government has been outstanding over the last year. As for the unemployment rate, in Q2 2024 it stood at 8.5%, far below the Spanish average (11.3%).

Consumption has been somewhat weak in recent months, in stark contrast to last year´s strong figures. Thus, after recording the highest growth of all mainland regions in 2023 (5.2% vs. 2.9% in Spain), the volume of retail trade sales fell by 1.9% year-on-year in January-August this year, whereas it grew by 1.6% across the country as a whole. In any event, it is the region that has exceeded its pre-pandemic figures the most, by 11.8% (3.7% in Spain).

Industrial production recorded some of the best figures in the country in 2023 – rising by 2.2% – whereas it fell by 1.4% across Spain. However, in the first eight months of 2024, it recorded a year-on-year decline of 1.4% (vs. 0.4% in Spain).

Exports of goods are performing somewhat sluggishly, hit by the sharp decline in pharmaceuticals (due to vaccine exports returning to normal after the pandemic) and energy products (the extraordinary sales of electricity in 2022 were not repeated, having benefited from shutdowns in the French nuclear fleet and the drought in Portugal). Thus, exports shrank by 12.7% in 2023 (–1.4% in Spain) and by a further 12.7% year-on-year in January-July this year (vs. –0.9%). However, in recent months there has been a marked recovery, stronger than the national average. Tourism is performing extremely well: in January-August, 5.8 million foreign tourists visited the region, spending nearly 10.7 billion euros, representing year-on-year growth of 17.0% and 25.8%, respectively, above the national average (11.2% and 17.6%).