Population. – The census of December 1940 found a total population of 25.877.971 residents (dens. 51.3). A registry calculation of July 1947 gave 27,552,484 residents (dens. 55). The figures for the individual provinces are collected in the table on the next page.
The average annual growth was 0.98% for the 1930-40 decade and 0.92% for the 1940-47 period. Since the beginning of the century, while the birth rate has dropped by 1/3, mortality has decreased by almost 50%; nuptiality has also contracted, but to a much lesser extent.
Administrative order. – With the Estado regime established on February 1, 1938, Spain resumed the old division into 50 provinces, abolishing regional autonomies. Each province is governed by a diputación provincial, which in turn results from ayuntamientos (municipî), whose alcades (or mayors) are, like the regidores (or councilors), nominated by the government. The ayuntamientos were 9255 in 1940 (instead of 9827 in 1930).
Economy. – The consequences of the long civil war are still felt in the Spanish economy, even if its structure has not been altered in its general lines. In the agricultural sector, the distribution of land is now as follows: 31.2% arable land, 7.8% tree crops, 42% natural grass, pasture and scrubland, 7.4% unproductive, 4% houses, water, roads, etc. About half of the arable land is cultivated with cereals, and half of the cereal land with wheat. The fundamental agricultural productions, which all marked a quantitative decrease (average 1942-46) compared to the average of the decade 1921-30, are the following: cereals (6,869,000 ha. With 55,257,000 q.), Potatoes (391,000 ha.. and 28.695.000 q.), olive tree (1.970.000 ha. and 3.271.000 q. of oil), vines (1.370.000 ha. and 16.093.000 liters), orange trees (80.000 ha. and 8.946.000 q.). The production of tobacco was 14.7 million q. in 1947, that of esparto is now around 1.1-1.5 million q.
In 1945 the consistency of the zootechnical patrimony was the following (in thousands of heads): sheep 24,310; goats 6410; pigs 6139; cattle 4173; 1100 mules; donkeys 800; horses 600; rabbits 29,870; poultry 22,876. In 1945, 498.9 thousand kg were produced. of cocoons.
Even the mining production reveals some fluctuations of some weight compared to 1921-30; on the whole, however, its value tends to increase and new activities have been joining the old ones. Here are the data relating to 1946 (in thousands of tons):
The economic importance of fishing continued to grow: in 1945 the product rose to. almost 600 thousand t. (double the period 1930-34), for a value of approximately 1.3 billion pesetas.
As during the 1914-18 crisis, the Second World War led to a significant expansion of industrial activities, both with the development of those already in operation and with the creation of new ones. Progress is particularly conspicuous in the textile and chemical industries (nitrogen, superphosphates) and in the rubber industries, always predominantly, but no longer exclusively Catalan.
Communications. – In 1945 Spain counted 128,638 km. of national roads. In 1946 the railways in operation measured 17,557 km., Of which 4,782 narrow gauge and 1,541 (8%) electrified. The tonnage of the merchant navy fell (January 1947) to 1.1 million.
Foreign trade. – The characteristic imbalance in the trade balance continued; however, the two years 1944 and 1945 (the end of the international war crisis) marked a slight prevalence of exports over imports. Here are the figures for this period (in million pesetas).
Finance. – After the civil war that had severely tested the country’s financial and monetary system (there had been a deficit of 11 billion pesetas in national Spain and 23 billion in the red one between July 1936 and December 1939), to the rehabilitation. The bank accounts of the occupied red territories, which had been blocked during the war, were partly converted into the new “national peseta” put into circulation by the Franco government in November 1936, partly repaid with government bonds and partly declared non-refundable. With the law of 9 November 1939, the notes in national pesetas issued by the Bank of Spain were declared a legal means of payment with full liberating power throughout Spain and the Bank itself was exempted from the obligation of compliance with the provisions contained in its organic law regarding the guarantees and limits of fiduciary circulation; with another law of March 13, 1942, the accounting situation of the Bank of Spain was regularized. Thanks to a significant increase in taxation, it was possible to bring about the consolidation of the ordinary budget. For Spain 2018, please check ethnicityology.com.
Moreover, the state had to bear extraordinary expenses in the period between 1940 and 1947, recorded in a separate budget, for a total of 17,251 million pesetas, procuring the means mainly through the issuance of public loans. Starting from the 1948 financial year, the uniqueness of the financial statements was restored, with the abolition of the extraordinary part. The public debt, which amounted to 24.6 billion at the end of 1945, had reached 53.1 billion by 31 December 1947.
A reform has recently begun in the monetary and credit field, which had a first phase of implementation in the law on banking system of 31 December 1946. While leaving the legal figure of a joint stock company to the Bank of Spain, the law in word established greater state control; it has not set any limit on the coverage of gold and currency notes, but has only set an overall limit on circulation, to be determined by law (this limit, initially of 23 billion, has been gradually increased to 28 billion); finally set new criteria for the amortization of the state debt for the reorganization of 1942. The other banks were placed under the control of the Ministry of Finance, to which,
As of November 30, 1948, circulation amounted to 25.5 billion (from 4.8 at the end of 1935 and 9.4 at the end of 1939). As at 30 June 1948, sight bank deposits rose to 29.1 billion and term deposits to 14.3 billion. The gold reserves of the Bank of Spain, which in July 1936 amounted to 2.2 billion pesetas gold (with a content of 0.290323 grams of fine) were totally exhausted during the civil war; however, during the Second World War, thanks to the favorable trend in the balance of payments and the policy of currency restrictions pursued by the government, these reserves gradually reconstituted themselves, reaching, in 1945, the amount of 1.2 billion new pesetas, which subsequently remained unchanged. The exchange control, in force since 1931, it was exacerbated during the civil war and entrusted in 1939 to a newly created institution, the Istituto español de currency extranjera, which was placed under the authority of the Ministry for Industry and Commerce. In December 1947, to reinforce the weak position of the peseta on the international market, the sale of foreign currency and gold and the denunciation of foreign securities held by private individuals were arranged (as in 1937).
The official exchange rate of the peseta has been fixed since July 1942 at the figures of 10.95 and 11.22 pesetas per dollar, respectively, for purchases and sales. Since August 1946, a preferential exchange rate for tourism purposes of 16.40 and 16.81 pesetas per dollar has also been in force. In December 1948 a complex system of multiple exchange rates was introduced for commercial transactions, with rates ranging from 12.59 to 21.90 pesetas per dollar for exports and from 13.14 to 27.375 pesetas per dollar for imports. Spain is not part of the International Monetary Fund.
