BarcelonaCatalonia is the fourth community in the State with a more competitive economy, surpassed only by the two regional communities – which have different funding -, the Basque Country and Navarre, and by the Community of Madrid, which benefits from the capital. This is reflected in the ninth edition of theReport on regional competitiveness in Spain 2025presented by the General Council of Economists of Spain (CGE) and sponsored by Banco Sabadell. The report highlights that regional competitiveness moderates the pace of progress in 2024, but the gaps between autonomous communities are narrowing in the last decade.
Specifically, this study is drawn up based on the regional competitiveness index for the year 2024 (Icreg 2024) and collects the map of the territorial competitiveness situation in Spain, accompanied by a dynamic analysis to identify trends and the evolution of structural competitiveness. Thus, the analysis reveals that the average structural competitiveness of the 17 communities increased by 2% in 2024, in line with the average evolution of the period 2008-2024, although evidencing a “progressive deceleration, once a large part of the disturbances that have affected the last years have been overcome”.
In 2024, the high competitiveness group will remain made up of the Community of Madrid, Navarre and Euskadi, although the latter two will exchange positions. Catalonia remains on the next rung as the only member of the medium-high competitiveness level, and the group of communities with a medium-low relative competitive level is made up of La Rioja, Aragon, Galicia, Castilla y León, Cantabria and the Principality of Asturias, which is progressing from the low level. Finally, the low competitiveness group is made up of Murcia and the Valencian Country, which exchange positions, Castilla-La Mancha, the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia and Extremadura.
The report highlights human capital, the institutional environment and innovation as the most dynamic areas in Catalonia. And highlights the positive evolution of long-term and temporary unemployment, continuous and adult training, as well as aspects such as inequality, employment, air traffic and the fleet of ecological vehicles. Business dynamism, research and patents are also highlighted. On the other hand, in Catalonia there is a negative evolution of external openness, the deficit, productivity, expenditure on R&D and female employment.
Convergence
In the State as a whole, all axes, except for the one referring to business efficiency, contribute positively to the growth of Icreg, and the axes of economic environment, labor market and human capital stand out for their dynamism. In this sense, the Council of Economists has justified the analysis of territorial convergence due to the relevance that this phenomenon has on balanced growth, regional cohesion, global efficiency, improvement in access to services and institutional stability, while creating more attractive environments for investment and collective well-being.
“By virtue of the elaborated analysis, it is confirmed that regional structural competitiveness in Spain has shown an acceptable converging pattern in the period 2013-2024, once the crisis of the Great Recession has ended,” says the text, which concludes by indicating that the gaps between the most and least competitive regions have narrowed with a prominent contribution of convergence.
According to the president of the entity, Miguel Ángel Vázquez Taín, “the general environment is characterized by solid economic growth, supported by the dynamism of national demand and the positive contribution of external demand, thanks to the strong impetus of tourism”. Despite this, Vázquez Taín states that “the sluggishness of goods exports is worrying”. To finish, the president of the economists emphasizes that “despite the persistence of considerable differences between regions over the last 15 years, regional competitive convergence is a reality that must encourage all the agents involved to persevere in this goal”.
