Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S A : Today’s number is about… software

The software industry contributes €35.8 billion to the Spanish economy, or 3.4% of Spain's GDP, according to a study by BSA The Software Alliance. The study also notes that the software industry has created more than 600,000 skilled jobs and invests nearly €700 million yearly in research and development.

The report 'Software: A €910 billion catalyst for the EU economy', which uses data from 2014, also stresses that the software industry added €12.9 billion to the economy, or 1.2% of GDP.

Based on data from the The Economist Intelligence Unit, BSA added that the software industry's 3.4% direct and indirect contribution to Spain´s GDP is slightly higher than that of Italy (3.2%) and represents nearly half of the sector's contribution to the European Union´s GDP (7.4%).

In terms of employment, software has created 624,471 jobs in Spain - approximately 3.7% of all the jobs in the country. The sector employs 219,234 people directly and another 400,000 indirectly.

Software has created nearly two million indirect and direct jobs in Germany (4.5% of all jobs), 1.2 million in France (4.4% of the total) and 744,000 in Italy (3.3%).