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Half of Spain's digital economy is concentrated in Madrid and Catalonia

The value of the digital economy in Spain reached 279,000 million euros in 2023, or 21% of GDP, according to the recently released report by Cotec and the Ivie

The digitalization of the Spanish economy continues to advance and already accounts for 21% of the country’s GDP, an increase of 5 percentage points from 2013 to 2021. Since 2021, the ratio stagnates, explained by the fact that the rate of digitization has kept up with the economy’s strong growth in recent years.

Thus, the digital gross value added (GVA) amounts to 279,000 million euros, of which half is concentrated in the economies of Madrid and Catalonia. These figures are from the Cotec Foundation for Innovation and Ivie report: La economía digital en España: avances y retos por regiones y sectores 2025, which quantifies and analyzes the evolution (2011-2023) of the economic value generated by digitization in Spain. To accomplish this, a novel approach is used that includes the development of a databank, with an interactive visualization tool that offers detailed information.

Digital added value is far more concentrated compared to the overall economic activity. Because of this phenomena, Madrid and Catalonia account for half of Spain’s digital GVA, which is ten times greater than their total economic weight. Madrid makes up 28.3% of Spain’s digital GVA, while Catalonia 20.6%, followed by Andalusia (10.9%), Valencian Community (8%) and Basque Country (6.2%).

In terms of the weight that the digital economic activity has within regional economies (digital intensity), Madrid is Spain’s most digital territory, accounting for nearly a third of its GVA (30.3%), while in Catalonia and the Basque Country it is almost a quarter (22.8% and 22.1%, respectively). The remaining countries have a lower rate of digitalization adoption than the Spanish average, which is at 21%.

In summary, the advance of digitization has been generalized in all of Spain’s regions, although an increase in the gap accross regions has been detected.

THE MOST DIGITIZED SECTORS

The advance of digitalization is affecting every aspect of the economy. Between 2011 and 2023, 20 out of 21 productive sectors have increased their digital intensity (defined as the weight of digital value added over the sector’s value added). The only exception is the financial sector, which started this process before the rest.

The most digitized sectors are Information and communications (with a digital intensity of 74%), Professional activities (40%) and Manufacture of machinery and equipment (40%), while the least are Real estate activities (2.6%), Agriculture and fishing (3.5%) and Hotels and restaurants (6.5%).

It is worth noting that only 5 of the 21 sectors are responsible for almost 70% of Spain’s digital economic activity. These include Public Administrations and Defense, Education, Health (17.5%), Professional activities (16.9%), Information and communications (13.4%), Trade and repair (11.1%) and Financial and insurance activities (8.4%).

SALARIES OF DIGITAL SPECIALISTS

The growth in digital employment was 23% between 2011 and 2023, which is twice the rate of change of total employment (11%). The number of digital specialists is growing in a singular way (+39%). Thus, in 2023 Spain already had 4.1 million digital employees (2.1 million digital specialists and 2 million non-specialist digital workers). There are difficulties in incorporating digital specialists outside the leading regions and sectors, which offer higher wages. But some communities and sectors are working hard to achieve this.

In this regard, the report includes as a novelty an analysis of the wage costs of digital specialists, as well as of their wage premiums (or differences) with respect to other workers. Digital specialists are particularly well paid. They count on a wage premium of 43% compared to an average worker (although this premium has dropped 7 points since 2011). This wage premium is not, however, homogeneous across the country; it ranges from 57% for Canary Islands to 20% in the Region of Murcia.

The study classifies the regions and cities into 4 quadrants based on their relative position with respect to the Spanish average in two variables: their digital wage premium (difference between the salary of specialists and the average worker) and their gross digital wage cost. The Canary Islands stand out for having above average digital wage premiums and wages in absolute terms.

Madrid emerges as the region that pays the highest wages for digital specialists, with an average salary of 61,297 euros, although its wage premium is lower than Spain as a whole. Catalonia and the Basque Country are in the same situation. While a group of 3 Spanish regions, Galicia, La Rioja and Castilla-La Mancha, have lower gross salaries for digital specialists, but higher digital wage premiums than the Spanish economy as a whole.

Last but no least, a large group of regions (made up of the remaining 10 regions) are characterized by having lower salaries and wage premiums than the Spanish average and, therefore, are less able to attract digital talent.