Madrid AC

• The Madrid Autonomous Community has the largest GDP and its higher relative growth has allowed the region to achieve a 19.8% share of Spanish GDP, 2.3 points more than in 2000.
• The region has exhibited considerable demographic dynamism in recent decades, thanks to migration flows, both from abroad and from other autonomous communities. With a population of 7.2 million inhabitants, 14.5 % of the total, it is the third most highly populated region. It is one of the oldest regions (19.2% of people are over 65 years old vs. 21.1% on average) and has one of the smallest foreign populations (17.0% of the total population vs. 14.4%).
• At 44,749, its GDP per capita is the highest in the country and 37.1% above the average (3.1% above the average in the euro area).
• The region’s sectoral composition is notable for the higher relative importance of professional and industry-related services (44.4% vs. 30.2% on average in Spain), whereas agricultural activities (0.1% vs. 3.0%) and manufacturing (5.5% vs. 11.9%) are of far lesser importance.
• In view of the limited role of manufacturing, it is a less export-oriented region, with exports of goods accounting for 15.4% of GDP (24.1% in Spain). Despite this, it is the region with the second-highest volume of exports, totalling 53.253 billion euros in 2025 (13.8% of all exports). The main export sector is chemical products (29.2% of the total), especially pharmaceuticals; Madrid exports 52% of all of Spain’s engines and motors, 39% of its office and telecommunications equipment and 28% of its transport equipment.

The Madrid Autonomous Community’s economy is a key driver of the Spanish economy and has been highly buoyant in recent years, surpassed only by the island regions. At CaixaBank Research we estimate that Madrid’s GDP grew by 3.1% in 2025 (2.8% in Spain). This momentum is being driven by market services, investment – supported by the significant roll-out of European funds – and the strength of employment and tourism.

According to our forecasts, Madrid’s GDP will grow by 2.6% in 2025 (2.4% for Spain). The region will continue to benefit from a healthy labour market and a diversified and competitive business base, with high value-added business services. However, activity could be adversely affected by a global situation marked by uncertainty, the impact of the war in the Middle East – especially the upturn in inflation – and the weakness of our main partners. The housing supply shortage, which is putting pressure on prices and business costs, is a risk to activity and talent attraction.

It is one of the most buoyant regions in terms of employment: in 2025, average growth in the number of registered workers affiliated to Social Security stood at 2.8% (2.3% in Spain) and in March 2026, year-on-year growth was 3.0% (vs. 2.5%). Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is among the lowest in the country: 7.0% in Q4 2025, almost 3 points below the average.

Consumption is robust, although it is experiencing below-average growth: the volume of retail trade sales grew by 3.6% in 2025 (vs. 4.0%) and 2.3% year-on-year in January-February this year (vs. 2.7%). In any event, it is the region that has exceeded its 2019 pre-pandemic figures the most, by 16.8 % (8.1% in Spain). The number of passenger car registrations is also very positive, increasing by 7.9% in 2025 and 9.8% year-on-year in Q1 this year (vs. 12.9% and 7.6% in Spain), so it is the only region to surpass its figures for 2019, by 9.0% (vs. –7.0%).

In terms of industrial production, the strong momentum from 2021-2023 has faltered in recent years: after a slight decline in 2024, it stagnated last year (vs. 1.3% in Spain). This trend, which can be attributed to the downturn in the consumer non-durables sector, is in stark contrast with its buoyant energy and consumer durables sectors. 2026 did not get off to a good start, with a sharp decline being recorded (–4.1% year-on-year up to February vs. –2.2% in Spain).

Exports of goods achieved one of the highest growth rates of all regions in 2025, 9.1% (0.7% in Spain), fuelled by sales of office equipment, textiles, jewellery and, above all, medicines, whereas there was a sharp downward in sales of transport equipment and energy products (due to international prices returning to normal); while more modest, the figure for January 2026 is still above average (2.3% year-on-year vs. –2.9%). In terms of tourism, Madrid is performing extremely well: 9.2 million foreign tourists came to the region over the course of the year up to February, spending 18.177 billion euros, a record high. This represented growth of 2.4% and 10.2% year-on-year (2.7% and 6.7% in the country as a whole).

• In 2025, the Madrid Autonomous Community exported €2.107 billion worth of goods to the U.S., accounting for 4.0% of its total exports – slightly below the average (4.3%) – and 12.6% of Spain’s total exports to that country.
• Almost half of Madrid’s exports to the U.S. are capital goods, above all motors/engines and industrial machinery (19.3% and 12.4% of the total, respectively), followed by semi-finished goods, primarily chemical products (30.1%). The region accounts for 47% of the motors/engines sold to the U.S. by Spain, 29% of its precision equipment, 26% of office equipment and 25% of transport equipment.