Press Release 04/07/2025

INVENTORY OF FACILITIES AND SERVICES. 2024

The Hospitality sector provided the most facilities and services in the Basque Country in 2024

Per 10,000 inhabitants, Gipuzkoa stood out in terms of restaurants, Bizkaia in terms of medical practices and Álava in terms of nursing homes

The Inventory of Facilities and Services in the Basque Country, prepared by Eustat, revealed that facilities and services related to the Hospitality sector came in first place, accounting for 26.3% of the total. In absolute terms, there were 12,720 hospitality establishments, equivalent to an average of 57.6 per 10,000 inhabitants. The next largest sectors in terms of the number of establishments were Fashion and accessories (9,618 establishments) and Food shops (6,262).

At provincial level, Bizkaia accounted for 52.5% of all facilities, followed by Gipuzkoa (33.9%) and Álava (13.6%). In relative terms, Gipuzkoa stood out with the highest number of facilities and services per 10,000 inhabitants in six of the eleven groups: Food shops, Hospitality (particularly Restaurants), Culture and sports, Education and Fashion and accessories. Medical practices and Dental practices, within the Health section, and Department stores and large retail stores, within the Household group, had a greater relative presence in Bizkaia. Lastly, Álava stood out for its Social services, specifically for having the highest relative number of Nursing homes, and for the number of Petrol stations per 10,000 inhabitants, within the Transport group.

Within the Hospitality sector, Cafes and bars predominated, with a total of 6,912 establishments, followed by Restaurants with 4,383. Gipuzkoa had the highest density of this type of establishment, with 58.6 per 10,000 inhabitants.

The Household category stood out due to the presence of Furniture and lighting shops, Ironmongers, paint shops and hardware shops and Telecommunications shops, with a greater concentration in Bizkaia (38.6%) and Gipuzkoa (37.2%) than in Álava (7.8%).

There were 2,707 Culture and Sports facilities, with an average of 12.3 per 10,000 inhabitants. Álava stood out in terms of Sports facilities, while Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia led in terms of Sports and toy shops and Bookshops, respectively.

In the Tobacco shops and gambling and betting sector, there were 4.7 establishments for every 10,000 inhabitants, with hardly any differences between the three provinces.

In the Finances sector, there were 4.5 financial institutions for every 10,000 inhabitants in the Basque Country, which were once again distributed evenly among the 3 provinces.

4,922 facilities were recorded in the Health sector, including Opticians and auditory centres, Orthopaedic practices and chiropodists, Parapharmacies and health food shops, Pharmacies, Funeral directors, Hospital activities, Health centres and outpatient clinics, Medical practices and Dental practices. The most numerous facilities were medical practices and dental practices. In relative terms, Gipuzkoa had the largest number of all the aforementioned facilities, with the exception of outpatient clinics and health centres, where Álava had a slightly higher ratio, and medical practices and dental practices, with a greater relative number in Bizkaia.

As regards Social services, on average, there were 1.6 nursing homes for every 10,000 inhabitants (this figure reached 2.7 in Álava) and 0.2 nurseries.

Period availables 2021202220232024

Compared to the previous year, the Food shops sector saw a small decrease in the presence of these facilities per 10,000 inhabitants (from 29.7 to 28.4), most notably in the case of Butchers and Delicatessens (5.3 to 4.8). Although the Fashion and accessories sector as a whole remained almost unchanged, the relative number of Clothing and accessories shops fell from 12.3 to 11.5. In contrast, there was an increase in the presence of transport-related facilities, such as Petrol stations, which rose from 1.5 to 1.6, and Courier services in Álava, which went from 0.8 to 1 per 10,000 inhabitants.

MUNICIPALITIES WITH FEWER THAN 2,000 INHABITANTS

All the municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants (143 in total) had at least one facility belonging to the Culture and sports sector. Álava had the highest infrastructure density in these areas (244 facilities for every 10,000 inhabitants), followed by Gipuzkoa (218) and Bizkaia (200).

The most noteworthy facilities and services in Álava were Nursing homes, which were present in 34.2% of small municipalities, Financial establishments (48.8%) and Food shops (53.7%).

Healthcare facilities were fairly widespread in municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants: they were found in 93.2% of those in Bizkaia, 80.5% of those in Álava and 79.1% of those in Gipuzkoa.

In the Education category, Gipuzkoa stood out with 83.7% of municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants offering some kind of formal education centre, while in Álava and Bizkaia the figures were 56.1% and 55.9%, respectively.

THE THREE BASQUE CAPITALS

An analysis of the distribution of facilities and services in the three provincial capitals of the Basque Country reveals that Bilbao had the highest absolute number of establishments, with 8,875, followed by Donostia/San Sebastián (5,038) and Vitoria-Gasteiz (4,848). However, if we look at the ratio per 10,000 inhabitants, Donostia/San Sebastián headed the list with 275 facilities, ahead of Bilbao (258) and Vitoria-Gasteiz (192).

San Sebastián was the leader in the Hospitality sector, with a rate of 74.6 facilities per 10,000 inhabitants, followed by Bilbao (69.9) and Vitoria-Gasteiz (50.0). Donostia/San Sebastián also came out on top in terms of Fashion and accessories facilities (64.7), followed by Bilbao (56.9) and Vitoria-Gasteiz (39.4). In the Culture and sports sector, Donostia/San Sebastián had a higher ratio (13.8) than Bilbao (10.3) and Vitoria-Gasteiz (9.4), just as in Health and Education. With the exception of Transport, in all the other groups of facilities, Vitoria-Gasteiz was the provincial capital with the lowest density of facilities per 10,000 inhabitants.

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