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Social Economy Satellite Account

• 1Contact
  • 1.1Contact organisation
    National Statistics Institute of Spain
    
  • 1.5Contact mail address

    Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid

    
    
• 2Metadata update
  • 2.1Metadata last certified
    25/02/2026
  • 2.2Metadata last posted
    26/02/2026
  • 2.3Metadata last update
    25/02/2026
• 3Statistical presentation
  • 3.1Data description

    The Social Economy Satellite Account is a synthesis statistic that provides the main economic aggregates of supply, employment of the entities recognised as Social Economy in Article 5 of Law 5/2011, of 29 March, on Social Economy, as well as their weight within the national economy.

    It also provides volunteering data in terms of the number of people doing both formal and good neighbourly volunteering, as well as their imputed economic impact in terms of national accounts.

    This is an annual operation that provides information from the reference year 2019.

    The measurement of Gross Value Added at current prices and its variations in terms of volume is offered. It also includes the measurement of output, intermediate consumption, remuneration of employees, gross operating surplus and mixed income and other net taxes on production.

    Employment estimates (in terms of employees and full-time equivalent employees) are also added.

    This statistical operation adopts the methodology contained in the European System of Economic Accounts (SEC-2010) in compliance with the provisions of Regulation (EU) No. 549/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council, of May 21, as well as the rest of statistical operations that make up the National Accounting of Spain, which guarantees the international comparability of its results.

  • 3.2Classification system
    • Clasificaciones utilizadas

      The classifications set out in the ESA 2010 are followed.

      
      
      

      The results by activity code of activity are adapted to the National Classification of Economic Activities NACE 2009.

  • 3.3Sector coverage

    The financial and non-financial economic operations of the national economy as a whole and of the activity code of activity into which it is divided are recorded.

  • 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
  • 3.5Statistical unit

    The units used are the units of local economic activity. The ESA groups the local economic activity units by activity code of activity. An activity is characterized by intermediate inputs of goods and services, a production process, and outputs (goods and services) obtained.

  • 3.6Statistical population

    The population under study is the set of units recognised as Social Economy in Article 5 of Law 5/2011, of 29 March, on Social Economy, resident in the national economy. An institutional unit has its residence in a country when it has its predominant centre of economic interest in the economic territory of the country, irrespective of its nationality, its legal form or its presence in the relevant economic territory at the time it carries out a transaction.

    Having a centre of overriding economic interest means that the unit carries out economic activities and operations of a certain magnitude for a sufficiently long time (a year or more). It should be pointed out that the mere fact of owning land or buildings makes the owner of the same have a predominant centre of economic interest in the territory.

    The social economy includes cooperatives, mutual societies, foundations and associations that carry out economic activity, worker-owned companies, insertion companies, special employment centres, fishermen's guilts, agricultural transformation societies and singular entities created by specific rules that are governed by the principles established in Article 4 of Law 5/2011.  of 29 March, on Social Economy.

  • 3.7Reference area

    It is made up of the national economic territory:

    1. The area (geographical territory) subject to the management and control of personnel of a single administration.
    2. Other free zones, including warehouses and factories under customs control.
    3. The national airspace, territorial waters and continental shelf located in international waters over which the country enjoys exclusive rights.
    4. Territorial enclaves, which are geographical territories located in the rest of the world and used, by virtue of international treaties or agreements between States, by the country's public administrations (embassies, consulates, military bases, etc.)
    5. Deposits (oil, gas, etc.) located in international waters outside the continental shelf of the country, exploited by units resident in the territory in accordance with the above points.
  • 3.8Time coverage

    The Social Economy Satellite Account covers the period: 2019-2023, for the results referring to the aggregates of the branches of activity, employment and volunteering data.

  • 3.9Base period

    2020 for chained volume indices.

• 4Unit of measure
  • 4.1Unit of measure

    Transactions and accounting balances are expressed in millions of euros for current prices.

    The results for employment and volunteering are expressed in units of employees filled and full-time equivalent employees.

• 5Reference period
  • 5.1Reference period

    The reference period is the calendar year. Data referring to the period: Annual A: 2023

• 6Institutional mandate
  • 6.1Legal acts and other agreements

    The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2025-2028, approved by Royal Decree 1225/2024, of  3 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2025-2028. (Statistics of the State Administration).

    
    

    Transactions and accounting balances are expressed in millions of euros for current prices.

    The results for employment and volunteering are expressed in units of employees filled and full-time equivalent employees.

  • 6.2Data sharing
    The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
    
• 7Confidentiality
  • 7.1Confidentiality - policy

    The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society

    
    
  • 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
    INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
    

    In particular, the Spanish National Accounts is a synthetic statistic whose results are compiled from the aggregated data from other statistical or administrative sources, with it not being possible to identify information relating to individual units in these, which would be protected, in any case, by statistical confidentiality according to the provisions of Law 9/1989 on the Public Statistics Service.

• 8Release policy
  • 8.1Release calendar

    The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.

    
    
  • 8.2Release calendar access

    The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)

    
    
  • 8.3User access

    The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice

    
    
• 9Frequency of dissemination
  • 9.1Frequency of dissemination

    The frequency of data dissemination is biennial.

• 10Accessibility and clarity
  • 10.1News release

    The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web

    
    

    The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web.

  • 10.2Publications

    In the first quarter of the year following year t, the definitive economic aggregates by branch of activity for t-3, provisional for t-2, are published.

  • 10.3On-line database

    INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.

    
    

    As it is a newly created statistical operation, there is no data relating to its accesses.

  • 10.4Micro-data access
    A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
    

    As it is a synthetic statistic, there are no microdata.

  • 10.5Other

    Not applicable.

  • 10.6Documentation on methodology

    This operation is carried out in accordance with the accounting principles established in the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 2010):

    http://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=DOUE-L-2013-81250

    The project for the implementation of the 2024 Statistical Review of the National Accounts operations of the INE can also be consulted, submitted for the opinion of the Higher Statistics Council in June 2024 in the New projects section of the INE website.

    https://www.ine.es/normativa/leyes/cse/2024_dictamen_Cuenta_Satelite_Economia_Social.pdf

  • 10.7Quality documentation

    This standardized methodological report contains, in fields 10.6 to 17, the elements of what constitutes the "User-oriented quality report" for this operation.

    It should be mentioned, however, that, following the guidelines established by Regulation (EC) 2016/2304 of December 19, 2016 on modalities, structure, periodicity and evaluation of indicators of the quality reports of the data transmitted in accordance with the Regulation (EU) 549/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council on the European System of National and Regional Accounts, a quality report of the Spanish national accounts is prepared annually in collaboration with Eurostat within the framework of ESA-2010.

     

• 11Quality management
  • 11.1Quality assurance

    Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.

    
    

    The Spanish Annual National Accounts: main aggregates by branch of activityis developed and published in accordance with the principles set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice.

    In addition, as a synthetic statistic, its quality is derived from that of the multiple base sources that it uses: surveys, administrative records, etc., with the majority of these being developed within the framework of the national statistical plan.

    Attempts are made to obtain the most accurate information possible from all of these, minimising the various kinds of errors that may affect them. In addition, the accounting balance itself that underpins the whole system of national accounts constitutes an additional guarantee of accuracy in the results obtained.

  • 11.2Quality assessment

    The exhaustive quality of the Social Economy Satellite Account is guaranteed by its consistency with the Input-Output framework of Spain's National Accounts. This estimate is complemented by other official statistics on the social economy from the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy regarding labor aspects, which therefore meet the required quality assurance mechanisms.

• 12Relevance
  • 12.1User needs

    This operation can be used to analyse and evaluate the structure of the Spanish social economy as a whole, specific parts or aspects of the national social economy, the national social economic evolution and, in turn, to make comparisons with the national economy as a whole, and with other economies.

    In addition, the results of the Audit are of fundamental importance for the Government of Spain when formulating and monitoring its economic and social policy.

    With this, among the main users of the results of this operation we can highlight the Government of Spain itself, the entities of the social economy, the teaching and research community of the sector, and also the European Commission, the European Central Bank, OECD, IMF and all kinds of research services and economic analysts.

  • 12.2User satisfaction

    The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013,  2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...

    On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click  next link)

     

    
    
  • 12.3Completeness

    The Social Economy Satellite Account complies with the information requirements of the National Statistical Plan and provides 100% of the requested results.

    R1= 100%

• 13Accuracy and reliability
  • 13.1Overall accuracy

    This operation is a synthetic statistic, meaning that its accuracy largely depends on the sources of information used in its production. However, the identities established by the system in the supply and use tables, by branch of activity and by product, and the general balance process of national accounts allow for the checking and improvement of the consistency and completeness of estimates, filling potential gaps and inconsistencies in basic data sources.

  • 13.2Sampling error

    This operation is a synthetic statistic, so the concept of sampling errors is not applicable. However, the operation is affected indirectly by such errors, due to the fact that surveys are amongst the information sources . However, the identities established by the system in supply and use tables, by branch of activity and by product, and the general balance process of national accounts allow for the checking and improvement of the consistency and completeness of estimates.

  • 13.3Non-sampling error

    This operation is a synthetic statistic, so the concept of sampling errors is not applicable. However, the operation is affected indirectly by such errors, due to the fact that surveys are amongst the information sources . However, the identities established by the system in supply and use tables, by branch of activity and by product, and the general balance process of national accounts allow for the checking and improvement of the consistency and completeness of estimates.

• 14Timeliness and punctuality
  • 14.1Timeliness

    The aggregates by activity code of activity for year t-1 are published, as profit or loss provisions, in the previous years as definitive.

  • 14.2Punctuality

    The dissemination of the data is carried out in accordance with the calendar of availability of structural statistics that the INE prepares and publishes each year.

• 15Coherence and Comparability
  • 15.1Comparability - geographical

    One of the objectives of the ESA 2010 is the harmonisation of methodology and the precision and rigour of the concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules that need to be applied in order to obtain a comparable description of the economies of the countries of the European Union. Therefore, the data collected in the CNE are comparable with those of the EU Member States.

    They are also internationally compatible as the ESA concepts are fully consistent with those contained in existing global guidelines on national accounting, which are set out in the System of National Accounts (developed under the joint responsibility of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, Eurostat, the OECD and the World Bank).

    Therefore, the values of the Social Economy Satellite Account that they have are a subset with direct correspondence to the national accounts, it maintains the characteristics in terms of geographical compatibility for those countries that implement it.

  • 15.2Comparability - over time

    The annual results disseminated are fully comparable with each other, as they are prepared according to the same accounting methodology (ESA 2010) and in accordance with homogeneous statistical sources and procedures.

    Comparable Time Series Length: CC2=28

  • 15.3Coherence - cross domain

    As it is a synthesis statistic, the results of this operation are, in general, consistent with those of the statistical and administrative sources used in its preparation, although not fully consistent with them given the conceptual and methodological differences existing with them.

  • 15.4Coherence - internal

    The accounting methodology established in the ESA 2010 guarantees compliance in the Spanish National Accounts with all the identities established therein and, with it, the coherence of all the measures established to describe the different parts of the economic process, allowing the joint and consistent analysis of the different aspects and phases of the same and the behaviour of the different economic agents.  including its relations with the rest of the world.

• 16Cost and burden
  • 16.1Cost and burden

    The estimate of the budgetary appropriation necessary to finance this statistical operation foreseen in the 2025 Annual Programme is 45,96​ thousand euros.

    This statistical operation does not entail any burden for the informants. As it is a synthesis statistic, it uses data already available in the administration.

• 17Data revision
  • 17.1Data revision - policy

    The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).

    This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow:  routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.

    
    

    This general policy sets out the criteria to be followed for the different types of reviews: routine - in the case of statistics that by their nature are reviewed on a regular basis -; major revisions, due to methodological changes or changes in basic statistical reference sources; and extraordinary revisions (e.g., those due to an error in statistics already published).

    The national accounts are a statistical product of a structural nature, so the estimates of the different operations and aggregates are subject to a process of revision and disaggregation until they become definitive. This process is determined by the dependence that national accounts have on statistical information, in the sense that the more circumstantial and aggregated the basic information, the more provisional the nature of the estimation of national accounts.

    The revision of the estimates is limited to a period of two years. During this period, two updates of the same accounting year will be available until the estimate of one year t becomes definitive.

  • 17.2Data revision - practice

    The review of the results of this operation is limited to a period of one years, until the estimate of a given year t becomes definitive.

• 18Statistical processing
  • 18.1Source data

    This operation incorporates different sources of economic information. In general terms, these sources are statistics prepared by the INE, statistics from other public and private bodies and administrative data.

    It is worth noting:

    • Central Business Register (INE)
    • Structural Economic, Industrial, Trade and Services Statistics (INE)
    • Construction Structure Survey (Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility)
    • Economic Accounts of Agriculture (MAPAMA)
    • Statistics by type of tax (AEAT)
    • Price Indices (INE)
    • Labour Force Survey (INE)
    • Affiliation of Workers to Social Security (Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration)
    • Annual Labour Cost Survey (INE)
    • Statistics on Social Economy Entities Registered with Social Security (Ministry of Labour and Social Economy)
  • 18.2Frequency of data collection

    The collection of data from the results of the basic statistics is a function of the dissemination of information from the different sources used. Information on annual basis is incorporated.

  • 18.3Data collection

    The data used are statistics prepared by the INE itself or other bodies. Data collection varies depending on the type of source and the way the information is disseminated (database, electronic publication, etc.). In general, the necessary information is published on the web pages, accessing the publication or the corresponding database directly. For unpublished information, it is sent directly to the Department of National Accounts from the responsible agencies.

    The source of information is listed in section 18.1 Source data.

  • 18.4Data validation

    The units commonly used in statistical research are not always suitable for national accounting purposes, as they are generally based on traditional criteria of a legal, administrative or accounting nature. First, the definitions of the units of analysis used in the ESA must be considered.

    In addition, for the correct recording of transactions in accordance with the ESA-2010 methodology, it is necessary to make certain adjustments to adapt the information obtained in the surveys to the criteria established in the ESA, such as the case of the unobserved economy, the inclusion of tips, insurance services, consistency in the recording of taxes and subsidies,  valuation of operations, etc.

    On the other hand, the ESA includes many specific agreements. For example, the valuation of the production of insurance services and financial intermediation services, etc. In these cases, based on the basic information, it is necessary to estimate the production according to the criteria established in the ESA and make the corresponding adjustments in the users of this production.

  • 18.5Data compilation

    After obtaining the source data, the tables that make up the Social Economy Satellite Account are drawn up, ensuring consistency between the data of the different types of entities that make it up, as well as consistency with the totals of the annual national accounts.

    In the process of preparing the results for each year, the following steps are followed:

    1. Analysis of the Central Business Register together with public lists of social economy entities provided by the regions to collect the set of entities belonging to the social economy defined as Social Economy in Article 5 of Law 5/2011, of 29 March, on Social Economy.
    2. Estimation of companies in the institutional sectors of non-financial entities and households (S11 and S14) in the branches of activity corresponding to the Structural Economic Statistics and the Construction Structure Survey.
    3. Estimate using data from the agricultural economic accounts for the agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries branches in the institutional sectors of non-financial institutions and households (S11 and S14).
    4. Estimate with data from the Statistics by type of tax in the branch corresponding to social services in the institutional sectors of non-financial entities and households (S11 and S14). Also, with this same source the estimates of non-profit institutions serving households (S15).
    5. Estimation with the sources of the Bank of Spain of the economic values of the entities belonging to financial institutions S12).

    For the case of year t-1, which is estimated with provisional data, extrapolations and equilibria are made at a lower level. This level depends on the statistical information available, and the detail provided by this information.

    To give all the percentages of coverage of the Social Economy with respect to the annual total, the official data of the annual National Accounts of Spain have been considered: aggregates by branch of activity in a consistent way in terms of branches, aggregates and provisional data; definitive data for previous years and provisional nature for T-1.

  • 18.6Adjustment

    Not applicable as it is an annual operation (possible calendar effects are considered negligible).

• 19Comment
  • 19.1Comment

    Not applicable