This section contains historical series of the Spanish economy resulting from research conducted by Professor Leandro Prados de la Escosura. The format in which the data are presented, along with the tools provided for their analysis in this space, enables users to gain a deeper understanding of our economic history and navigate through the various periods of expansion and crisis that the Spanish economy has experienced since the mid-19th century. It also offers a comparative view of GDP and population since the late 13th century.
The database developed by Professor Prados de la Escosura provides up-to-date historical national accounts - including estimates of GDP, both on the demand and supply side, as well as of capital, labour and total factor productivity - a statistical basis of undoubted value for investigating the long-term evolution of Spanish economic activity. It includes
- GDP: Expenditure and Output, 1850-2023
- Capital Stock and Services, 1850-2023
- Growth Accounting, 1850-2023
- GDP and Population, 1277-1850
- Per Capita GDP, 1277-2023: International Comparisons
The new database shown below revises and expands to the present day the estimates offered in
Prados de la Escosura, L. (2017), Spanish Economic Growth, 1850-2015Palgrave Macmillan. Available in Open Access at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-58042-5
Prados de la Escosura, L. (2024), A Millennial View of Spain's Development. Essays in Economic HistorySpringer. Available in Open Access at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-60792-9
Graphics:
The following is a visualisation tool for the main historical series from offer y demand of this new base, as well as the international comparison of GDP per capita since 1850. In addition, the evolution of the GDP per capita in the Pre-industrial Spain 1277-1850.
Technical information:
Series construction
Historical output and expenditure series have been reconstructed for the century before the advent of modern national accounting.

In addition, the series corresponding to the different national accounts bases have been linked by interpolation (as an alternative to the conventional backwardpolation method). Finally, the series of the "pre-statistical era" (1850-1958) have been spliced with those resulting from the national accounts linkage, including the Statistical Review 2020, in order to obtain annual series of GDP and its expenditure and output components. since 1850.
The database includes nominal (at current prices) and real or volume (at constant prices) series of GDP and its expenditure and output components. It also provides nominal and real estimates of Gross National Income (GNI), Net National Income (NNI) and Net National Disposable Income (NNDI). Deflators (implicit price indices resulting from dividing the nominal series by the volume series) are also provided for GDP and its demand and supply components (expenditure and output), as well as for GNI, NNI and NNDI. On the basis of new population estimates, GDP per capita has been derived.
Estimates of labour productivity, calculated from Gross Value Added (GVA) and new series of full-time equivalent (FTE) employment and hours worked, are presented.
Finally, PPP-adjusted GDP per capita - i.e. adjusted for international differences in the price level (purchasing power parity, PPP) - is placed in comparative perspective (expressed in 2011 GEKS and 1990 Geary-Khamis dollars, respectively).
Spanish Historical Macroeconomic Series by Leandro Prados de la Escosura is licensed under CC BY 4.0