Gibraltar | Facts & Information

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

Gibraltar Profile

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Facts & Figures

Status: Overseas territory

Governor: Edward Davis (2016)

Chief Minister: Fabian Picardo (2011)

Total area: 2 sq mi (6 sq km)

Population (2014 est.): 29,185 (growth rate: 0.25%); birth rate: 14.15/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.29/1000; life expectancy: 79.13

Monetary unit: Gibraltar pound

Literacy rate: above 80% (2013 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2008 est.): $1.275 billion; per capita $43,000. Real growth rate: 6% (2008) Inflation: 1.5% (1998). Unemployment: 3% (2005 est.). Arable land: 0% (2011). Agriculture: none. Labor force: 12,690 (2001) (including non-Gibraltar laborers); services 60%, industry 40%, agriculture negl. Industries: tourism, banking and finance, ship repairing, tobacco. Natural resources: negl. Exports: $271 million f.o.b. (2004 est.): (principally reexports) petroleum 51%, manufactured goods 41%, other 8%. Imports: $2.967 billion c.i.f. (2004 est.): fuels, manufactured goods, and foodstuffs. Major trading partners: France, Spain, Turkmenistan, Switzerland, Germany, UK, Greece, Russia, Italy, U.S., Sweden (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 23,100 (2012); mobile cellular: 34,750 (2012). Broadcast media: Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) provides TV and radio broadcasting services via 1 TV station and 4 radio stations; British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) operates 1 radio station; broadcasts from Spanish radio and TV stations are accessible (2008). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3,509 (2012). Internet users: 20,200 (2009)

Transportation: Railways: total: n.a. km. Highways: total: 29 km; paved: 29 km; unpaved: 0 km (2007). Ports and harbors: Gibraltar. Airports: 1 (2013).

International disputes: In 2002, Gibraltar residents vote overwhelmingly in referendum against “total shared sovereignty”; the Government of Gibraltar insists on equal participation in talks between the UK and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar even greater autonomy.

Major sources and definitions

Gibraltar, at the south end of the Iberian Peninsula, is a rocky promontory commanding the western entrance to the Mediterranean. Aside from its strategic importance, it is also a free port, naval base, and coaling station. It was captured by the Moorish leader Tarik, crossing from Africa into Spain in 711, and its name is derived from the Arabic, Jabal-al-Tarik (Mount of Tarik). In the 15th century, it passed to the Moorish ruler of Granada and later became Spanish. It was captured by an Anglo-Dutch force in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession and passed to Great Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Since then Spain has continually laid claim to it. Most of the inhabitants of Gibraltar are of Spanish, Italian, and Maltese descent, and in 1981 Gibraltarians were granted full British citizenship. Spanish efforts to recover Gibraltar culminated in a referendum in 1967, in which the residents voted overwhelmingly to retain their link with Britain. In response, Spain sealed Gibraltar's land border between 1969 and 1985.

In 2002, Britain and Spain discussed sharing the sovereignty of Gibraltar. In reaction, the government of Gibraltar held a referendum in Nov. 2002 in which the population voted almost unanimously against shared sovereignty.

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