La Rioja

At CaixaBank Research, we estimate that La Rioja’s GDP grew by 1.9% in 2023, below the Spanish average (2.5%). The strength of exports contrasted with the modest figures for household spending, against a backdrop of sluggish employment, and the poor performance of agriculture, 
which was badly hit by the drought. 

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La Rioja
324,000
inhabitants (2023)
€29,579
GDP per capita (2022)
0.7%
of Spanish GDP (2022)
1.5%
anticipated growth in GDP (2024)
Regional economic structure and position
  • La Rioja has just over 324,000 inhabitants, 0.7% of the whole country, making it the least populated region in Spain.
  • The GDP of La Rioja is 9.502 billion euros, which accounts for 0.7% of Spanish GDP, and it is also the region that makes the smallest contribution to the national total.
  • With a GDP per capita of 29,579 euros, it is ranked seventh in the country and it is 5.0% higher than the Spanish average, although the gap with the average has been narrowing due to slower economic growth.
  • The region’s productive sectors are notable for the relative importance of the agricultural and manufacturing industries, which account for 5.2% and 21.2% of GDP respectively (2.6% and 12.5% in Spain); wine is worthy of a special mention, as it is the fifth largest wine-producing region the second largest in per capita terms. However, the tertiary sector is of relatively little importance, in trade, transportation, hotels and restaurants, and leisure (23.2% vs. 28.4%), and industry-related services (21.3% vs 28.5%).
  • Although goods exports account for a significantly lower percentage of GDP than the national average (21.9% vs 28.9%), notable growth has been recorded in recent years. In 2023, La Rioja exported goods worth 2.281 billion euros, 0.6% of all Spanish exports: almost 38% of exported goods are agri-food products, in particular wine, followed by fruit, pulses and processed foods; these are followed by footwear (8.3% of the total) and chemical products (5.9%), especially plastics.

Table of structural indicators

 

  

1992

2002

2012

 

2022

GDP per capita

Euros

 

11,114

19,705

23,856

 

29,579

100 = Spain

 

113.5

108.9

108.2

 

105.0

Population

Thousands of inhabitants

 

266

285

319

 

322

Average annual growth over the decade (%)

 

0.3

0.7

1.1

 

0.1

% of the total in Spain

 

0.7

0.7

0.7

 

0.7

% of population > 65 years old

 

17.1

19.2

19.1

 

21.8

Exports of goods as a proportion of GDP

%

 

15.9

19.3

 

21.9

 

 
Macroeconomic situation

At CaixaBank Research, we estimate that La Rioja’s GDP grew by 1.9% in 2023, below the Spanish average (2.5%). The strength of exports contrasted with the modest figures for household spending, against a backdrop of sluggish employment, and the poor performance of agriculture, which was badly hit by the drought.

For 2024, our forecasts indicate GDP growth of 1.5%, slightly below the national average (1.9%). In the first few months of the year, industry has struggled to gain momentum, unlike exports, which have performed strongly. On the plus side, given the slow roll-out of NGEU funds, there is ample room for improvement, so accelerating their disbursement could boost investment and stimulate the business sector. The strong primary and agri-food sector would also benefit from less adverse weather.

GDP

Last actualization: 08 May 2024 - 09:00

La Rioja’s labour market is slightly more sluggish than across the country as a whole. After the number of registered workers affiliated to Social Security grew by 1.4% in 2023 (2.7% on average in Spain), in the opening months of this year the rate picked up and rose to 1.9% in March year-on-year (vs 2.6%), 6.2% higher than in the same month in 2019 (vs 9.8%); over the last year job creation in hotels and restaurants, education and healthcare has been outstanding, in contrast to the heavy job losses in construction. In terms of the unemployment rate, in Q4 2023 it stood at 9.5%, below the national average (11.8%) and the figures in Q4 2019 (9.9%).

Service activities are also performing somewhat more sluggishly than in the rest of the country. Following a sharp decline in 2022, hit by inflationary pressures, the volume of retail trade sales is recovering, albeit partially: they grew by 1.7% in 2023 (2.9% on average nationally) and by 1.5% in January-February this year (vs 3.2%), so they remain below pre-pandemic levels (–1.1% vs +3.5%).

As far as the industrial sector in La Rioja is concerned, the IPI figures are very poor. After recording one of the country’s sharpest declines in 2023 (–6.4% vs –1.4% in Spain), at the start of 2024 it continued to decline, falling by 2.8% year-on-year in the first two months, whereas it rose by 4.0% nationwide; so it remains far below where it stood in 2019 (–13.2% vs +0.8%).

Exports of goods from La Rioja were among the best performers in 2023, with growth of 9.5% (–1.4% in Spain), supported by sales of semi-manufactured goods (especially chemical products) and some types of food, such as processed foods in contrast, exports of meat and wine suffered a sharp downturn. Despite the slowdown seen at the start of 2024 (+1.4% year-on-year in January), they are above the national average (–2.5%) and 21.8% higher than in 2019 (vs +29.5%).

Industrial production

Last actualization: 08 May 2024 - 09:00

Exports of goods

Last actualization: 08 May 2024 - 09:00

Table of indicators

 

 

2008-2013 average

2014-2019 average

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Latest figure

Activity and prices

Real GDP*
(% year-on-year change)

–2.3

1.9

–8.9

4.7

5.5

1.9

 

2023

–1.8

2.8

–11.2

6.4

5.8

2.5

 

Retail trade
(% cumulative annual change)

–4.9

2.0

-4.0

1.4

–1.0

1.7

1.5

February-24

–5.2

2.3

–5.2

3.6

0.8

2.9

3.2

Industrial production index
(% cumulative annual change)

–6.2

–1.1

-12.0

5.3

1.4

–6.4

–2.8

February-24

–5.3

1.8

–9.2

7.1

2.5

–1.4

4.0

Service activity index
(% cumulative annual change)

–2.7

5.9

–9.6

19.1

9.9

9.1

15.2

January-24

–4.6

5.1

–15.6

22.0

18.3

2.2

2.8

Consumer price index
(% year-on-year change)

1.7

0.7

–0.6

3.2

8.9

3.5

3.0

March-24

1.7

0.7

–0.3

3.1

8.4

3.5

3.2

          

Labour market

Registered workers affiliated to Social Security
(% year-on-year change)

–3.2

2.5

–1.4

1.8

2.6

1.4

1.9

March-24

–3.1

3.2

–2.1

2.5

3.9

2.7

2.6

Registered workers affiliated to Social Security not affected by furlough
(ERTE in Spanish) (% year-on-year change)

–3.2

2.5

-7.2

6.4

5.7

2.2

2.6

March-24

–3.1

3.2

–9.2

7.3

7.3

3.4

3.0

Unemployment rate
(% working population)

15.4

13.2

10.8

11.5

9.5

9.2

––

Q4 2023

20.2

18.8

15.5

14.8

12.9

12.1

––

Unemployment rate for under 25s
(% working population < 25)

39.0

34.1

26.4

31.0

26.4

27.9

––

Q4 2023

42.5

42.5

38.3

44.7

23.9

27.2

––

          

Public sector

Public deficit
(% of GDP)

–2.2

–0.7

1.2

0.0

–0.6

–0.5

––

2023

–2.7

–0.9

–0.2

0.0

–1.1

–0.9

––

Autonomous Communities public debt
(% of GDP)

10.0

18.2

20.4

19.2

17.0

15.7

––

Q4 2023

12.3

24.1

27.2

25.6

23.6

22.2

––

          

Real estate market

Housing prices
(% year-on-year change)

–9.7

2.9

1.9

3.5

7.2

2.8

––

Q4 2023

–8.1

5.3

2.1

3.7

7.4

4.0

––

Housing sales
(% cumulative annual change)

-11.7

10.6

–13.5

37.9

12.0

–18.2

–12.8

January-24

–10.8

9.7

–16.9

34.8

14.8

–9.9

–2.1

          

Foreign sector and tourism

Exports of goods
(% cumulative annual change)

3.8

2.9

–10.2

7.9

13.2

9.5

1.4

January-24

4.6

3.9

–9.4

20.1

22.9

–1.4

–2.5

Tourist overnight stays
(% cumulative annual change)

0.3

2.8

–61.3

78.8

35.0

4.0

–2.5

February-24

0.7

3.0

–69.2

78.3

73.3

7.2

7.6

Note: *The 2023 GDP figure for Autonomous Communities is an estimate made by CaixaBank Research.

Source: CaixaBank Research, based on data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Bank of Spain, the Ministry of Labour, Migration and Social Security (MITRAMISS), the Ministry of Finance and DataComex.

Regional comparison

Below we show a series of charts comparing the main indicators for the various regions.

Regional comparison

Last actualization: 04 July 2024 - 08:30