Hello Ukrainian Ukrainian citizens
we continue with our course on Basic Spanish Culture
and now we are going to offer other information of interest.
I am Pilar Gomis, vice dean of Students and Communication
of the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology of the UNED.
The first thing that
we are going to talk about is urban areas and rural areas.
The concentration of the Spanish population of the Spanish population is in the areas
urban areas, and there is also depopulation in rural areas,
what is known with the term of the emptied Spain.
The main cities in Spain by number of inhabitants, according to
data from the National Institute of Statistics,
are, in the first place Madrid, with just over 3,300,000 inhabitants.
Barcelona, with 1,600,000 inhabitants.
A little bit more.
Valencia, with almost 800,000 inhabitants.
Seville with approximately 690,000.
And Zaragoza with just over 675,000 inhabitants.
In relation to mobility,
transport in Spain is characterised for having an extensive network
railways, airports and ports. and ports.
Large cities have a more fluid communication more fluent communication than the areas
which are more inland
or that are part of that rural Spain that we were talking about.
The plane tickets, even train tickets,
can be expensive depending on when they are date and destination.
Buses are a cheaper alternative cheaper at times,
but then there are also there are other ways of getting around
car sharing, certain apps, etc. applications, etc.
Some roads, some highways have tolls,
but many others not, within the main ones
cities, the public transport network works quite well. the public transport network.
Let's look at some of the cities
the most important ones so that you have in your head what this network is all about.
For example, in the city of Madrid public transport is characterised by
by buses
intercity and night buses,
Renfe commuter trains and the Madrid metro.
If we look at Barcelona, public transport is
in the metropolitan area and in the province,
with city buses, those known as TMB,
and night buses, Nitbus, the Renfe suburban train.
Rodalies and the Ferrocarrils of the Generalitat de Catalunya,
and the metro network and tram network of Barcelona.
If we are in Valencia, the transport
public transport in the city of Valencia and the nearby municipalities
are made up of by the municipal buses,
the Renfe commuter train and the Valencia Metro network.
In Seville and surroundings there are the city buses,
the so-called Tusam and the metropolitan ones.
Also the suburban train
Renfe, the metro network and the Seville tramway.
And finally, in Malaga,
transport in the city and the province of Malaga,
is usually covered by the EMT city buses EMT urban buses and the lines
metropolitan lines, the Renfe suburban train Renfe and the Malaga Metro network.
Each autonomous community usually has a reference page,
a page
reference website where we can find information
on how to get around within the city and its metropolitan areas.
How much does it cost to live in Spain?
There are important differences in the price of housing
and in the cost of living, depending on the city you are in.
One of the main differences is imposed by that
by the price of housing
In Spain, the rent of a shared room varies
between 180 and 500 € on average
depending on the geographical location where the property is located.
Big cities are much more expensive than smaller cities.
Just to give you an idea,
the minimum interprofessional wage in Spain in the year 2022
is 1.000 € gross per month, distributed
in 14 payments.
As far as health services are concerned, it is important to note that
in Spain the public health system is free and universal.
This public health system includes consultations,
access to emergencies and part of the cost of of the price of medicines.
The competences are transferred to the different
autonomous communities, that is to say, they are the ones who manage
how the health systems health systems.
The users
have an individual health card card that they have to apply for.
in the autonomous community in which they live.
From this card is generated what is called a medical record,
which is a report that contains all the patient's health data all the patient's health data
or user and which is available to of the family doctors.
The autonomous communities organise their health systems,
generally by a system of geographical delimitation.
This is called a health area or basic health area,
depending on the autonomous community in which we are.
In them, the activity is carried out by a health care team
primary health care, that is to say, the health centres,
the family doctors and the paediatricians that we were talking about before.
Each zone corresponds to a hospital, a hospital centre,
where you can go in case of emergency or in case of need
intervention or a more specific more specific follow-up.
And also, a speciality centre where we can be referred to
from primary health care,
to the family doctor or to the different health specialists.
It is also transferred to the different communities
education. In Spain, it is compulsory schooling for boys and girls
between the ages of between the ages of six and 16.
At this stage, education is free, universally,
in public centres, although, as in the case of health in the case of health,
there are people who can go to a private or subsidised centre.
In the case of health, many people have health insurance.
Although we insist, the health system is free of charge in public centres.
There are also differences here depending on the community
autonomous community in which we are, although in general
the educational stages are divided in all cases in the same way.
There is an early childhood education from 0 to 3 years old,
which is not compulsory and is not usually free of charge,
although in some communities it may be subsidised,
may be subsidised,
although it is not usually, as I say, completely free of charge.
There is also a range of children's children's homes and other solutions
so that the little ones can attend the centres
during a small part of the day.
Then
we have early childhood education from 3 to 6 years old.
It is the second cycle of infant education.
It's not compulsory either,
although it is usually free of charge in public schools.
Once we have finished this stage education, we move on to education
primary education, for boys and girls between 6 and 12 years old.
This is compulsory and it's also divided
into three cycles, two courses per cycle.
It is usually taught in the CEIP, schools.
of Infant and Primary Education.
Here also go the children from 3 to 6 years who are schooled.
Once they reach the age of 12, the boys and girls start
compulsory secondary education, that is, ESO.
These studies are taught in differentiated schools.
What in colloquial language is known as "institutes".
They are for boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 16.
From the age of 16, education is no longer is no longer compulsory in Spain.
Young people who want to to continue studying can choose:
They can take the baccalaureate, which is two years
and it's compulsory for university entrance, or they can take
an intermediate or higher education degree. With the higher education degree
also they can also go to university.
You have to take a test beforehand.
The network of universities in Spain is wide.
Also is usually managed by the different
autonomous communities, except in the case of the UNED,
which is a national university.
The year
school year in Spain is divided into three trimesters.
From the beginning of September to Christmas.
January after Christmas,
after Epiphany, to Easter, which is usually at the end of
March or April; and from Easter to the end of June. Easter to the end of June.
From the end of June to September there are holidays and therefore, there are no classes,
although there are usually conciliation conciliation measures that are managed
through local councils or other institutions of this type,
(camps, etc.) During the school year, there are also there are also holidays that depend on
on national holidays or regional holidays,
or even local holidays of each city or town.
The school timetable as well
depends on the autonomous community and the school itself.
There are centres that have what is called jornada continua, that is to say,
have classes followed, from 9h to 14h approximately,
and others have a split day a few hours in the morning,
a break for lunch and others in the afternoon. In June and September
it is usual to finish one hour earlier in the case of continuous working hours,
or no classes in the afternoon.
In the case of split day.
Although this is not the case in all centres,
is usually the case.
In the public centres
there are centres that have canteen service and sometimes
this service is subsidised totally or partially subsidised.
There is also the option of extending of the morning timetable
and extracurricular activities
to complete the day after school.
But all of this will depend on on the school that we're in.
and the Autonomous Community.
How do you cover both the costs of health care
as well as the costs derived from education, as well as other
kind of costs? Well, public services in Spain
are generally financed by taxes. From the collection of taxes
is handled by by the Spanish Tax Agency to ATE.
A part of the proceeds goes to the autonomous communities.
On their website.
The Tax Agency explains how taxes are managed.
There are two types of
taxes: direct taxes and indirect taxes.
The first taxes are levied on the economic economic capacity of individuals
and, of them,
the most important
is the one that taxes income, that is to say, the IRPF, which is a tax
that is levied on the income that the citizen obtains in a year.
But there are other taxes, such as the wealth tax,
the corporate tax, gift tax, etc.
The persons who are obliged to declare, there are some requirements
that make it obligatory or not to file a tax return,
will have to file
the Income Tax Return with the tax office.
This is done in the months of May and June
through the tax office.
Regarding indirect taxes, the most important indirect taxes, the most important
is the VAT, which is levied on consumption and which is found in the prices
that we pay for what we buy and for what we consume.
There are products that are exempt from VAT,
other products with lower VAT, reduced VAT or super reduced VAT,
although the general rate is 21%. On the invoices
VAT is usually itemised separately, but it is already integrated
in the final price paid by the consumer.
Work. Normally, to work in Spain in Spain you need
a residence and work permit and is processed through the consulate.
However, the European Union has approved a protection regime
special refugee protection regime
which allows persons coming from Ukraine
to enter legally into the territory of the European Union
and obtain a residence and work permit and work without the need
to apply for political asylum or something similar.
In addition, work is being done to expedite
all the bureaucratic procedures involved in arriving in a new country.
You can find information about it at the police stations
police stations and other institutional institutional centres,
where they will surely be able to help you with all the necessary information.
If we continue
talking about work, when you start working, you sign
a contract that the employer has to register with the social security.
For that it is usually necessary to be registered in the system
and have a plus, i.e, a social security number,
a user number social security number.
This number is going to identify the citizen
in all relations with the Social Security
and it is compulsory both for affiliation,
i.e. to be registered in a scheme, to start working,
or for registration in any social security of the Social Security,
as well as to be beneficiaries of pensions,
Subsidies, or other types of benefits
provided by the Social Security.
In addition,
it is essential
in order to apply for inclusion in the Spanish health system.
The one we saw before.
The working day in Spain is at most
40 hours a week on an annual basis.
This means that the daily working time working day must not exceed 9 hours per day.
It is regulated as well as other related aspects
with work by the Statute of Workers,
available on the Ministry's website,
or through any search engine.
Information on types of contracts,
the various models that exist, as well as the as well as the associated conditions
to each one,
are available on the website of the SEPE: Service
Public Employment Service.
In Spain there is a huge network of social services destined
to attend in an integral way social needs.
These services are made up of by a series of programmes and resources
that address the different social social problems in a concrete way.
In most cases they are accessed
through the autonomous autonomous communities.
They are usually are transferred in their operation
and, therefore, you can get information about all of them in town halls,
in health centres and in other authorised institutions
to provide information to citizens.