The endowment of capital in infrastructure, equipment and other assets places Asturias above the Spanish average (it is the ninth region) in relation to its population and its position is “much higher if employment, surface area and production are considered” , according to the study “The ‘stock’ of capital in Spain and its autonomous communities”, carried out by the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE) and the BBVA Foundation. The report establishes, however, that this has not prevented a “loss of ability to attract private investment” to occur.
The net capital “stock” available to Asturias, according to its market value expressed in euros, amounts to more than 92,896 million, as an aggregate of the residential sectors, other constructions, transport equipment, machinery and information and communication technologies , which represents 2.2% of the Spanish total when Asturias contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country with 1.95%, contributes 2% of the employed population and represents 2.1% of the territorial area from the country.
According to the study, the net capital available to the region in relation to its territorial dimension exceeds the Spanish average by 5.6 percentage points, exceeds the Spanish average of net capital by 9.2 points in proportion to employment and is ahead in 14.6 points the average endowment of equipment and infrastructures of the country expressed in monetary terms in relation to the GDP that it is capable of generating with such springs. On the contrary, the correlation between capital stock and total population is less advantageous for Asturias, despite which it also exceeds the Spanish average, although only by one percentage point. Asturias has the specificity of being the region with the lowest active population in the country in percentage terms of the total census and suffering one of the largest demographic regressions.
Physical units.
Considering infrastructure equipment specifically not for its value in monetary terms but expressed in physical units, the Principality exceeds the Spanish average for kilometers of both road and rail infrastructure per square kilometer but falls behind in the dimensions of seaports and airports in relation to the land area.
The combination of these four elements gives Asturias a position for total transport infrastructure equivalent to 94.25% of the Spanish average, 5.75 points lower than the average as a result of port and airport penalties.
According to a synthetic index that evaluates the endowment of infrastructures measured by the mileage of roads and railways, and by the area and length in the port and airport assumptions, Asturias is the eighth community with the greatest provision of road infrastructures in relation to size of the region (exceeds the Spanish average by 14.71 points) and the fifth with the highest railway deployment measured in kilometers of track in relation to the regional surface. The Principality exceeds the rail “stock” of the regions as a whole by 46.02 points.
However, it remains 56.8 percentage points below the average in airport area in relation to territorial size (it is the eleventh community) and is 26.94 points below the average in the case of maritime infrastructures. Of the ten coastal regions, it is the fourth with the smallest port dimension (area and length of the docks) in proportion to the territorial extension.
Highways and rail network.
In the case of road and rail facilities considered in physical units and not in their monetary value, Asturias is 39.1 percentage points above the Spanish average in motorway mileage in proportion to territorial size (it is the seventh best-equipped community) and exceeds the average by 70.1 points on conventional roads. On the contrary, it is 65.1 points below the average Spanish level for multi-lane highways. In the case of the railway, the region is the fourth with the most electrified kilometers (more than double the Spanish average) and the sixth in terms of double track, where it is 17.8 points below the national average level.
Fourth region with the highest density of net capital for each unit of wealth generated
Asturias is the fourth region with the highest nominal net capital endowment per product unit, behind Castilla y León, La Rioja and Castilla-La Mancha, which implies that these regions require a higher endowment than the rest to generate the same unit of gross domestic product (GDP) or, conversely, that there is idle capacity or a less efficient and profitable use of resources. The ratio is 4 current euros per unit of GDP in Asturias compared to 3.49 in Spain. The Basque Country, at the opposite extreme, is enough for 2.95 euros, with data for 2018. In 1995 Asturias was the eighth region, with 3.43 euros per unit of GDP, so since then its position has fallen four places : has more capital endowment to generate the same unit of wealth.