According to national accounts data, Spain’s economy expanded in 2025 thanks to substantial advances in most sectors and a strong performance in construction. However, imports showed divergent trends between goods and services.
Year-on-year, imports displayed mixed growth, slowing in services and accelerating in goods. According to the data, goods imports were up 6% in 2025, a much bigger gain than the 0.7% rise recorded in 2024.
In comparison, growth in services imports decelerated rapidly. Growth in imports of services, by contrast, slowed to 7.5% from 13.8% in the prior year.
The data show that services imports lost momentum last year, even as overall imports strengthened.
Construction emerges as the main driver of value
Construction was the largest contributor to value-added growth in the economy in 2025, based on the production measure of value added. The sector expanded by 5.6%, making it the fastest-growing major activity during the year.
Services followed, growing by 3.2%. While its pace lagged construction, the sector remained a key driver of overall economic activity.
Industrial output increased by 2.3%, pointing to continued expansion, albeit at a slower rate than in construction and services.
Primary sectors posted the weakest performance, with agriculture growing by 0.5%, below the economy-wide average.
Overall, the sectoral breakdown shows construction leading economic growth in 2025, supported by steady gains in services and industry and more subdued growth in agriculture.
Income-based GDP shows slower profit growth
Income-side GDP data point to a shift in the composition of growth in 2025, with employee compensation remaining resilient even as profit growth slowed.
Employee remuneration rose by 7.2% in 2025, only slightly below the 7.3% increase recorded in 2024, indicating broadly stable and robust wage growth.
By contrast, growth in gross operating surplus and mixed income eased to 3.7% from 5.2% a year earlier, signalling more moderate gains in corporate profits and self-employment income.
Net taxes on production and subsidies increased by 7.3%, down from 7.9% in 2024, pointing to a modest deceleration despite continued strong growth.
Overall, the income-based breakdown suggests that while profits and taxes expanded at a slower pace than in the previous year, employee compensation remained a key driver of economic growth.
Growth marked by shifting drivers
On the production side, economic growth in 2025 was increasingly driven by construction, amid mixed performance across other sectors.
Goods imports rose sharply during the year, while growth in services imports slowed.
With agriculture posting limited gains and services and industry expanding at a moderate pace, construction emerged as the largest contributor to value added.
Taken together, the data indicate that growth persisted in 2025, but its drivers shifted, with wage growth and construction activity playing a more prominent role as profit growth and net taxes moderated.
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