La Rioja

• La Rioja has just over 327,000 inhabitants, 0.7% of the whole country, making it the least populated region in Spain.
• The GDP of La Rioja is 10.618 billion euros, which accounts for 0.7% of Spanish GDP, and it is also the autonomous community that makes the smallest contribution to the national total.
• With a GDP per capita of 32,828 euros, it is ranked seventh in the country and it is 6.0% higher than the Spanish average, although the gap with the average has been narrowing due to slower economic growth.
• The region’s productive sectors are notable for the relative importance of the agricultural and manufacturing industries, which account for 6.1% and 19.9% of GDP respectively (2.7% and 11.9% in Spain). Wine is worthy of a special mention, with it being the third largest wine-producing region - the second largest in per capita terms. However, the tertiary sector is of relatively little importance, in trade, transportation, hotels and restaurants, and leisure (22.8% vs. 28.1%), and industry-related services (21.6% vs. 29.7%).
• Although goods exports account for a significantly lower percentage of GDP than the national average (21.5% vs. 25.6%), notable growth has been recorded in recent years. In 2024, La Rioja exported goods worth 2.383 billion euros, 0.6% of all Spanish exports: 36.1% of exported goods are agri-food products, in particular wine, followed by fruit, pulses and processed foods; these are followed by chemical products (9.0% of the total), especially plastics, and footwear (8.0%).

At CaixaBank Research, we estimate that La Rioja’s GDP grew by 3.1% in 2024, at a rate similar to the Spanish average (3.2%). This was thanks to the upturn in (public and private) consumption and a buoyant tertiary sector, especially professional and commercial activities, while strongly-performing industry was mirrored in exports.

For 2025, our forecasts indicate GDP growth of 2.4%, the same as the national average. Easing inflation will boost household spending, while lower interest rates and further disbursement of NGEU funds could stimulate investment and job creation. On a less positive note, global instability and growing uncertainty may adversely affect La Rioja’s economy, especially the US tariff policy, which may impact the wine sector in particular, given that it is the second destination for the region’s wine exports.

La Rioja’s labour market is performing well. After the number of registered workers affiliated to Social Security increased by 2.1% in 2024, slightly less than across the country (2.4%), this year it has picked up to an above-average 2.6% year-on-year in May (vs. 2.2%); over the last year, job creation in transportation, administrative activities and education has been outstanding, although there have been heavy job losses in agriculture. As for the unemployment rate, in Q1 2025 it stood at 8.8%, below the Spanish average (11.4%).

Consumption is performing at a similar level to the country as a whole. The volume of retail trade sales grew by 1.9% in 2024 (2.1% on average nationally) and by 3.6% year-on-year in January-April this year (vs. 3.2%). In turn, passenger car registrations have been growing at a good pace, albeit somewhat below average, both in 2024 (6.6% vs. 7.1%) and in January-May this year (12.7% year-on-year vs. 13.6%).

As far as the industrial sector in La Rioja is concerned, the IPI figures are positive after the sharp downturn suffered in 2023. Thus, last year it recorded one of the highest growth rates in the country (2.5% vs. 0.7% on average), thanks to well-performing capital goods and consumer durables. In the early months of 2025, the rate of growth accelerated and rose by 4.2% year-on-year up to April, whereas there was a slight decline nationwide (–0.3%). In any event, it is one of the regions where industrial production is furthest adrift of 2019 levels (–10.3% vs. –0.9%).

Exports of goods from La Rioja were among the best performers in 2024, with growth of 4.5% (0.2% in Spain), supported by sales of capital goods (especially transport equipment), semi-finished goods (chemicals) and some types of food, chiefly meat and wine. In contrast, fruit and pulses suffered a sharp downturn. In the early months of 2025, exports grew slightly less than last year (1.2% year-on-year up to April), but maintained an above-average pace (0.8%).