Over the last ten years, the volume of money generated by illegal activities in Spain, such as drug trafficking, prostitution and illegal gamblingreached almost 14 billion euros, which represents almost 1% of gross domestic product (GDP). These figures, surprising to many, are the result of an international effort to take into account the value of these unregulated operations on the economy. This is how Santiago Lago, professor of applied economics at the University of Santiago de Compostela, explains it: “It is not something that we Spaniards do motu proprio. It is an international agreement to try to measure […] the value that these operations accumulate.
Drug trafficking tops the list, representing a 0.5% of GDP, followed by prostitution (0.35%) and, more remotely, illegal games with a 0.07%. In total, these illegal activities reach a figure similar to that which Spain has allocated to defense in 2024.
This type of measurements, which are also carried out in other countries such as France, Italy and United Kingdomreveal that Spain follows the international trend in taking into account the underground economy. Italyfor example, has a higher percentage, while Portugal and Germany they are left behind. Interestingly, these estimates also include tipping in bars, which is equated with other illegal activities.
