Barcelona is a Spanish city, capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia, of the Barcelonés region and of the homonymous province. With a population of 1 620 343 inhabitants in 2018, it is the second most populous city in Spain after Madrid, and the eleventh in the European Union.

The metropolitan area of ​​Barcelona ​​has 5,029,181 inhabitants (2011), thus being the sixth largest city in the European Union. The city has a nominal GDP of USD 142 223 million and a nominal GDP per capita of USD 30,619, which represents a PPP GDP per capita of USD 36,240, being the second largest Spanish metropolitan area in economic activity; and the 17th in Europe behind: London, Paris, RinRuhr, Amsterdam, Milan, Brussels, Moscow, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Birmingham.

It is located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, about 120 km south of the Pyrenees mountain range and the border with France, on a small coastal plain bounded by the sea to the east, the Collserola mountain range to the west, the river Llobregat to the south and the Besós river to the north. Because it was the capital of the county of Barcelona, ​​it is usually referred to as the "Ciudad Condal".