|chancellor =
|chancellor-raw =
|pm =Mariano Rajoy Brey (Since December 2011)
|pm-raw =
|area =195,364 sq mi
|tld =
}}
'''Spain''' (Officialy Officially The Spanish Kingdomof Spain, in Spanish: Reino de España)is a european European country located on the [[Iberian Peninsula]], bordered by [[Portugal]] and the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to the [[west]], [[Gibraltar]] to the [[south]], the [[Mediterranean Sea]] to the east, [[France]] and [[Andorra]] to the [[north]]. [[Portugal]] is located on the same peninsula. Spain is a member of the European Union and the NATO, and an US- Ally.
Spain is the winner of the 2010 [[World Cup]].
====Educational System====
About 70% of Spain's student population attends public schools or universities. The remainder attend private schools or universities, the great majority of which are operated by the Catholic Church. Compulsory education begins with primary school or general basic education for ages 6-1416. It is free in public schools and in many private schools, most of which receive government subsidies. Following graduation, students attend either a secondary school offering a general high school diploma or a school of professional education (corresponding to grades 9-12 in the United States) offering a vocational training program. The Spanish university system offers degree and post-graduate programs in all fields--law, sciences, humanities, and medicine--and the superior technical schools offer programs in engineering and architecture.
==Government and Political Conditions==
In 2005, the Spanish Parliament approved a same-sex marriage bill.
In November, 20 th, 2011, Mariano Rajoy Brey, from the Popular Party (PP), won the elections, and took office on December, the 20th, of the same year.
===Local Government===
The 1978 constitution authorized the creation of regional autonomous governments. By 1985, 17 regions covering all of peninsular Spain, the Canaries, and the Balearic Islands had negotiated autonomy statutes with the central government. In 1979, the first autonomous elections were held in the Basque and Catalan regions, which have the strongest regional traditions by virtue of their history and separate languages. Since then, autonomous governments have been created in the remainder of the 17 regions. The central government continues to devolve powers to the regional governments, which will eventually have full responsibility for health care and education, as well as other social programs.
Spain is divided into [[political subdivisions of Spain|seventeen autonomous communities]] and two autonomous cities ([[Ceuta]] and [[Melilla]], which are in north Africa next to [[Morocco]]). The seventeen autonomous communities are further divided into fifty provinces.
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