Only 26 municipalities, barely 0.3% of the 8,131 in the entire country, accumulate half of the more than 17,324 million in debt of Spanish local entities, while just over 5,000 municipalities, almost 62% of the total , they owe nothing or their indebtedness is less than one thousand euros.
These 26 municipalities belong to nine autonomous communities: 11 to Andalusia -four of them from Cadiz-, three to Madrid and the same number to Castilla y León, two to Catalonia and another two to the Valencian Community and one to Aragón, the Balearic Islands, Murcia and Basque Country, in addition to Ceuta.
The 26 municipalities with the highest debt (in thousands of euros), according to outstanding debt data from the Ministry of Finance as of December 31, 2021, are:
1. Madrid 1.679.511
2. Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz) 918,419
3. Barcelona 817.503
4. Saragossa 665,962
5. Jaen 504,944
6. Parla (Madrid) 397,679
7. Malaga 283,540
8. Valencia 268,832
9. Murcia 266,624
10. Gandía (Valencia) 262,949
11. Sevilla 233.441
12. Algeciras (Cadiz) 216,081
13. Burgos 188.346
14. Palma 180.445
15. Cordoba 176,376
16. The Neighborhoods (Cadiz) 175,547
17. Ceuta 168,549
18. Alcorcon (Madrid) 166,099
19. Granada 155.057
20. Huelva 149,687
21. The Ejido (Almeria) 147,488
22. Valladolid 145,117
23. The Conception Line (Cadiz) 139,072
24. Leon 128,858
25. Lleida 124,667
26. Vitoria-Gasteiz 121,352
The set of 8,131 Spanish municipalities owed as of December 31, 2021, according to data from the Ministry of Finance, a total of 17,324.05 million euros, but in a very heterogeneous way.
While a dozen cities owed more than 250 million euros, fifty municipalities accumulated a debt between 50 and 250 million, 151 between 10 and 50 million, 637 between one and 10 million, 1,187 between 100,000 euros and one million and 1,060 between thousand and 100,000 euros.
Finally, the bulk of the Spanish municipalities, 5,036, which represent around 62% of the total, the vast majority small towns -4,991 municipalities have less than a thousand inhabitants, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE)- owed nothing or less of one thousand euros (the Treasury data appears in thousands of euros and it is not possible to know with them which have zero and which have an amount of up to 999 euros).
The economic effort that the pandemic has forced all public administrations to make and the consequent relaxation of spending rules to make it possible have not prevented municipalities from maintaining the constant reduction in their public debt of the last 10 years, although slower pace in 2020 and, above all, in 2021.
In any case, the total indebtedness of the municipalities, which reached its maximum at the end of 2012 with 35,290.05 million euros, according to data from the Treasury, has gradually been reduced to almost half thanks to the strong adjustment measures imposed by the Government, which forced municipal officials to allocate their resources to reduce debt.
Thus, in 2013 it was reduced to 35,090 million euros, in 2014 to 31,722 million, in 2015 to 29,024, in 2016 to 26,183, in 2017 to 23,722, in 2018 to 20,951, in 2019 to 18,970, in 2020 to 17,679 million and the last year to 17,324 million euros, 8.67% below the situation prior to the pandemic.
For example, Madrid, the most indebted city, has gone from 7,429.66 million euros in 2012 to 1,679.51, 77.4% less.
If the provincial councils, councils and island councils are added, which at the end of last year owed 4,451.51 million euros, and the smaller local entities and associations, which accumulated 292.61 million, the total debt of local entities in 2021 was 22,068.18 million euros.
By autonomous communities, the one with the most debt from its municipalities is Andalusia, with 5,470 million euros, 31.5% of the total; ahead of Madrid, with 3,301 million; Catalonia, with 2,875; the Valencian Community, with 1,218 million; Castilla y León, with almost 789 million; Aragon, with 737 million; and Murcia, with 728 million euros.
ANDALUCIA 5.470,08
ARAGON 737,63
ASTURIAS 187.89
BALEARANS 228.87
CANARY ISLANDS 143.64
CANTABRIA 57.62
CASTILE AND LEON 788.97
CASTILE-LA MANCHA 467.62
CATALUÑA 2,875.95
VALENCIAN COMMUNITY 1,218.42
EXTREMADURA 139.46
GALICIA 234.62
MADRID 3.301,71
MURCIA 728.81
NAVARRE 90.28
PAIS VASCO 307.69
RIOJA 70,18
CEUTA 168.54
MELILLA 105.21
TOTAL 17.324,05
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