Assessment and Recommendations

Madrid has captured advantages of globalisation by becoming a Metroregion of 6 million, which attracts foreign workers and firms. Since the mid- 1990s, the capital region of Spain has enjoyed one of the highest expansions in population and economic growth within Europe and among OECD metropolitan areas. From 1995-2005, the metro-region has registered an average annual growth rate of 3.7%, above Spain’s 3.3%, and growing at twice the average of the European Union for the same period. This economic boom has made the metro-region a magnet for workers, both at the national and international level (population grew by 15.4% over 2000-2006 in Madrid), with an influx of foreign migrants, mainly coming from Latin American countries. From 2000 to 2006, 760 000 new jobs were created and unemployment declined from 11.6% to 6.5%. Today, the capital region concentrates more than 13.5% of the national population and generates above 17% of Spain’s output. Madrid is the Spanish financial centre, concentrating around one-quarter of total savings and responsible for around two-thirds of both total inward and outward foreign investments (from 2002 to 2004, Spain was the 6th largest recipient of FDI worldwide and the 5th largest in Europe).