Press release 07/12/2022

MUNICIPAL GDP 2020

In 2020, Zamudio, Olaberria and Ajangiz maintained their positions as the municipalities with the highest GDP per capita in the Basque Country

The three Basque capitals were the municipalities that generated the highest volume of GDP, with services activities predominating in all three

In 2020, the municipality of Zamudio, in the province of Bizkaia, continued to be the municipality with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita1 in the Basque Country, followed by Olaberria, in Gipuzkoa, and Ajangiz, also in Bizkaia, according to Eustat data. If we look back to 2000, we can see that in 2020 Ajangiz and Loiu broke into the top five municipalities with the highest GDP per capita, to the detriment of the municipalities of Izurtza and Legutio.

These results should be analysed within the social and economic context arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as it had a negative impact on GDP in almost all municipalities in the Basque Country.

Zamudio is a municipality in Bizkaia with a strong economic structure, based on both industrial and services companies. Olaberria in Gipuzkoa and Ajangiz in Bizkaia came in second and third place, respectively. In Álava, Berantevilla was the municipality with the highest GDP per capita, occupying ninth place. These municipalities had a strong industrial character, with the weight of the industrial sector being higher than 75.0% in all of them.

Vitoria-Gasteiz generated 73.4% of GDP in Álava

The capital of the province of Álava, Vitoria-Gasteiz, accounted for 73.4% of the province’s GDP. Furthermore, as it was the municipality with the largest concentration of people in Álava, it also accounted for a large volume of the services that generated this GDP, most notably Property activities and Public Administration activities.

As a whole, the 6 municipalities in Álava that generated the most GDP were responsible for 87.0% of the total for the province. Laudio/Llodio was the municipality with the second highest GDP in Álava thanks to activities such as Glass industry and Wholesale trade related to that industry, among others. Amurrio and Legutio came in third and fourth place, with a business landscape underpinned by industry.

In fifth place was Oyón-Oion, a municipality with a strong industrial character due to activities such as those related to Beverages and Mechanical engineering, and in sixth position was Iruña Oka/Iruña de Oca, with an economic structure based primarily on services such as Public Administration activities and Other goods transport by land.

Source: Eustat. Municipal GDP

Six municipalities in Gran Bilbao accounted for 54.2% of Bizkaia’s GDP

Among the municipalities in Bizkaia that generated the most GDP in 2020, there was a high concentration of municipalities in the region of Gran Bilbao, where the 6 municipalities with the highest GDP in the province were located, accounting for 54.2% of the total for Bizkaia. In the lead was the municipality of Bilbao, which generated 31.9% of Bizkaia’s GDP in 2020.

Bilbao, Barakaldo, Leioa, Getxo and Basauri, the municipalities in Gran Bilbao that topped the ranking, are characterised as municipalities with more than 30,000 inhabitants that have a strong presence in the services sector. Standing out were services such as Property activities, Public Administration activities, related to both healthcare and education, and Trade, among others.

Zamudio differs from the other municipalities with the highest volume of GDP in that it is a municipality with a small population (fewer than 3,400 inhabitants) and has a production structure based on both the industrial sector (45.5%) and the services sector (50.4%). Of particular relevance in the municipality were companies linked to the production of Transport material, as well as companies offering Professional and technical services linked to industry.

Source: Eustat. Municipal GDP

The municipalities with the largest populations in Gipuzkoa based their GDP on the services sector

Of the total GDP generated in the province of Gipuzkoa, 50.4% was generated by 6 municipalities and 29.6% solely by its capital, San Sebastián.

As regards the sectoral structure of the municipalities with the highest GDP, we can see that, in general, the greater weight of the services sector predominated, especially in municipalities with large populations (over 50,000 inhabitants), such as San Sebastián and Irún. Property activities were significant in both municipalities, as were Public Administration activities in San Sebastián and Goods transport by land and Ancillary transport activities in the case of Irún.



In the municipalities of Hernani and Beasain, there was a greater presence of industrial activities, with a weight of 50.6% and 66.6%, respectively. Of particular note were activities related to the Manufacture of railway material in Beasain and General use machinery and the Paper industry in Hernani.

Source: Eustat. Municipal GDP

1 Methodological note: For a better interpretation of these data, a distinction must be made between Municipal GDP and Municipal Income. GDP is connected to production, to the generation of wealth in the province, and is concentrated in municipalities with important productive establishments. Income, on the other hand, is related to individuals and their place of residence.

Furthermore, GDP is given in per capita terms in order to rescale the size of municipalities (by dividing the GDP generated in them by their population) and thus provide a comparison between the economic activity of very small municipalities and that of large ones.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62