Instituto Nacional de Estadística
In 2023, there were 6,141 affiliates of Spanish companies abroad in the sectors of Industry, Construction, Trade and Other non-financial market services.
Turnover generated by these affiliates generated 280,972 million euros. As for employment, they employed 947,513 people, with a personnel cost of 37.669 billion euros. The gross tangible investment they made was 67.312 billion euros.
The Services sector accounted for the largest percentage of Spanish affiliate companies abroad (38.9%). It also registered more employees than the rest of the sectors (50.0% of the total), larger personnel costs (49.6%) and larger gross investment (48.4% of the total).
On the other hand, overseas affiliate companies that conducted their business in the Industry sector generated 36.2% of the total turnover.
Percentage
The activities with the greatest number of affiliates were Manufacturing (with 21.5% of the total)and Sale and repair of motor vehicles and motorbikes and Wholesale trade (20.0%).
With regard to turnover, the branches that contributed the highest percentage to the total were also Manufacturing industry (23.2%) and Sale and repair of motor vehicles and motorbikes and Wholesale trade (13.8%).
Percentage
Manufacturing was also the activity with the most employment (22.0% of the total). Information and communication followed behind (14.0%).
Information and communications was the branch with the largest personnel costs (25.5% of the total), followed by Manufacturing (18.5%).
Information and communications and Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply were the activities with the largest material investment (25.5% and 13.2% of the total, respectively).
The countries where the largest number of affiliates were located in 2023 were the United Kingdom (14.0% of the total), Portugal (10.6%) and the United States (9.4%).
On the other hand, the countries in which the affiliates made the highest turnover were Brazil (13.0% of the total), the UK (10.9%) and Germany (8.0%).
With regard to the number of persons employed, Brazil employed 11.8% of the total, Mexico 9.7% and the United Kingdom 6.9%.
With regard to personnel costs, Italy (15.4%) was the country with the largest personnel costs, followed by Brazil (11.0%) and the United States (9.8%).
The United States (13.3%), Italy (9.5%) and Germany (9.4%) were the countries in which Spanish affiliates made the largest tangible investment.
It is worth noting that the top 10 countries with the highest turnover accounted for 67.5% of the total turnover, 60.3% of the total number of subsidiaries of Spanish companies abroad and 54.2% of the total number of people employed by these affiliates.
The majority of Spanish companies' affiliates abroad were located in the Americas (33.5% of the total) and in the Eurozone of the European Union (31.9%).
According to the turnover, the affiliates of Spanish companies in America generated 40.2% of the total during 2023 and those located in the Eurozone generated 31.4%.
With regard to the number of persons employed, the affiliates of Spanish companies in the Americas employed 52.7% of the total and those established in the Eurozone 19.4%.
The Americas was the geographical area with the largest personnel costs, with 44.1% of the total, and the one with the largest gross tangible investment, with 40.8%.
In Industry, Construction and Services, the affiliates of Spanish parent companies were more established in the Americas, with 31.1%, 49.9% and 40.3%, respectively. In Trade, the largest presence was in the Eurozone (55.1%).
With regard to the turnover, the largest percentages were obtained in the affiliates located in the Americas for the Industry (47.1%), Construction (49.4%) and Services (41.0%) sectors, while Trade stood out in the Eurozone (44.3%).
Affiliates in the Americas lead the percentage of persons employed in three out of the four activity sectors: Industry (40.5%), Construction (52.9%) and Services (66.8%). In the Euro zone, the largest percentage of people were employed in the Trade sector (34.9%).
Personnel costs in Trade (50.3%) and Services (48.0%) were higher in the Eurozone than in the other areas. In Industry (46.4%) and Construction (64.0%) the largest personnel costs were in the Americas.
Finally, the Americas had the largest gross physical investment in Industry (37.3% of the total), Construction (80.1%) and Trade (43.4%), while the Eurozone had the largest gross physical investment in Services (49.8%).
The data published today are final. All results are available on INEbase.
In accordance with the Commission's Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137, the INE has begun to work on incorporating the new National Classification of Economic Activities CNAE-2025 in all its statistical operations.
In the case of the Statistics on Spanish Affiliates Abroad, the first publication of results with CNAE-2025 will take place in 2027.
The principle objective of the Statistics on Subsidiaries of Spanish Companies Overseas (FILEXT) is to provide annual information on the main variables that determine the structure and activity of subsidiaries overseas that are ultimately controlled by Spanish parent companies, in the industrial sector as well as construction, business and other non-financial market services.
Information is provided on the main variables, broken down by activity, size and country or geographic area of the subsidiary company.
The results of these statistics are prepared using administrative information from the Register of Foreign Investment of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Enterprise as a basis. This Ministry supplies primary data to the INE by virtue of a collaboration agreement between both organisms. The INE also has an additional collaboration agreement with the Tax Agency, through which it receives and uses form 231 of the Country-by-Country Information Declaration to complement the aforementioned information. Likewise, the European Register of Groups and the Structural Statistics on Companies act as a source for calculating the necessary raising factors.
The Statistics on Affiliates of Spanish Companies Abroad (FILEXT) complements the information which, in the scope of the economic globalisation statistics, provides the Statistics on Affiliates of Foreign Companies in Spain (FILINT), the results of which are contained, as of reference year 2021, in the Statistics on Companies according to Group Membership (EEPG).
For more information, you can access the methodology and the standardised methodological report.
INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.
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