The economy strongest autonomous region of Spain is Catalonia (Catalan Catalunya, Spanish Cataluña). It lies in the northeast of the country at the middle sea coast. The capital is Barcelona. Official languages are Catalan and Spanish. Catalonia has about 6 million inhabitants.

Catalonia borders on France in the north, separated by the Pyrenees, in the west to the region Aragón and in the southwest to the region Valencia.

Catalonia is divided up into 4 provinces: Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida (span: Lérida) and Girona (span: Gerona). In parallel, division passes one in altogether 46 circles (comarques). It is striven for by a Catalan side to replace the provinces by the circles. This would make a far-reaching political decentralizing possible.

Important towns next to Barcelona are Tarragona, Lleida and Girona as well as Manresa, Igualada, Martorell, Terrassa and Sabadell. Hospitalet and Badalona, also large towns, border ' directly on Barcelona and are proper into the catchment area.
The coastal course is multifarious and marked of numerous sandy bays.

A close partnership in the context of the Europe of the regions maintain the German federal state Baden-Wurttemberg and Catalonia.