The Kingdom of Spain, as it’s officially known, is the second largest country in the EU – with an area of 505,955 square kilometres, Spain covers about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with Portugal.
Spain has 44 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – pre-historic rock art, historic cities and buildings, bridges, national parks and landscapes. Only Italy with 49 sites and China with 45 have more.
There's no tooth fairy in Spain – when Spanish children lose a tooth, they put it under their pillow and a small mouse called Ratoncito Pérez comes to collect it and leaves a small gift or money in its place.
Spain's Christmas lottery has the world's biggest payout – Spain’s national lottery, El Gordo (‘the fat one’), held just before Christmas has a payout of some EUR 2.24 billion.
The Spanish national football team topped the FIFA World rankings for five consecutive years – from 2008 until 2013. La Roja (The Red One), La Furia Roja (The Red Fury), La Furia Española (The Spanish Fury), or La Furia (The Fury), as the national team is known, also holds the world record (28) for winning the most consecutive competitive matches.
