Spain is a country.
Spain ( España [ esˈpaɲa ] ) , officially the Kingdom of Spain ( [ Reino de España , links = no ] ) , is a sovereign state located on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe , with two large archipelagoes , the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea and the Canary Islands off the North African Atlantic coast , two cities Ceuta and Melilla in the North African mainland and several small islands in the Alboran Sea near the Moroccan coast . With an area of 505990 km2 , Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe , the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union , and the fourth largest country in the European continent . By population , Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union .