Study Finds Spain Most Active EU Country

While Spain is currently being cooked by the kind of sweltering heat that is good for exercising in, the fact Spain sees so much warm weather all-year-long is no doubt one of the reasons that it is the most active country in the European Union.

Researchers from the Stanford University in America tracked average step counts of people across 46 countries based on data from their smartphones.

The study showed that the average Spaniard walks 5,936steps, putting the country ahead of every other country in the EU. Hong Kong was the most active country on a global scale, with China and Japan coming in second and third. Indonesia came in last.

The Spanish proved to be much more active than the rest of Europe. The rest of the top five was made up of Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Britain. The Greeks came in last for Europe, averaging around 4,400 steps each day.

The reason behind the research was to assess the correlation between activity and obesity and heart disease rates. This is one example where correlation is in fact causation. Hong Kong is one of the most active countries and also the country with some of the lowest heart disease and obesity rates there is. Hong Kong was also the country that saw the smallest gap between the most and least active walkers. The study showed there was also a connection between the size of this gap and obesity rates.

The Stanford professors refer to it as an “activity in equality” and say that it is a good indicator of the general health of the population of a country. Hong Kong scored top in the world with a rating of 22.2, while Spain was able to place in the global top 10 with a rating of 26.1.

Following the data would make the least active countries the USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Canada – which also happen to be the countries with the largest carbon footprints in the world per capita.

Given the active nature of Australians however, it looks like step-count data isn’t enough by itself to determine the health of a nation.

For Spain however, the combination of an outdoors lifestyle, Mediterranean diet, and solid balance between work and life have apparently created one of the healthiest countries there is.

Mobile Roaming Charges in EU has Ended on June 15

Mobile Roaming Charges in EU has Ended on June 15

check out the new phone coming soon http://infoliomobilephone.com

June 15^th marked the date those in the EU will be able to swipe and tap as much as they want.

One of the worst things about going on holiday is coming back to find yourself left with a pricy mobile phone bill.

It is true that the costs of using your mobile phone abroad have come down a lot in recent years, but the idea that you would be charged more for just crossing the boundaries of another country – particularly countries in such an interconnected continent like Europe – has always felt like an opportunistic move for mobile service providers to make.

The EU has attempted to end the practice for years now, and now the end will come on June 15, meaning that an EU-registered mobile phone can be used across the EU for no additional cost.

It’s called the “Roam at Home” program and the idea is to levilise charges, and it means that you won’t be stuck with any additional fees by your service provider, even if you left the EU but stayed within the greater European Economic Area (EEA).

This will no doubt leave many Brits wondering if they can expect the same treatment from their own UK-based mobile service providers come March 2019.

It’s unknown what deals – if any – the British government will be able to make with the EU on the issue, or whether companies like Vodafone and O2 even have any leverage. For now though, Brits will still be able to enjoy the Roam at Home program without worry of running into a massive bill.

There is one small hitch of course, and that is the rumours of price hikes from EU service providers in order to offset the lost income. Reports have suggested that Spanish provider Movistar is likely to increase their at-home tariffs in order to compensate for the EU ruling, while Vodafone and Orange have also suggested they may do the same.

Latest Data Finds Spain is Home to 30% of Vineyards in EU by Area

Latest Data Finds Spain is Home to 30% of Vineyards in EU by Area

Spanish wine has always been placed in a bit of a unique position by the wine drinkers of the world.

Spanish wines have long been considered the best in Europe

It’s not quite as traditional or exceptional as French wine, nor is it as romantic as Italian wine. It doesn’t carry the buzz of the New World wines of Chile, South Africa, and Australia. Spanish wine is the kind of wine you take with you for a housewarming party. It says you aren’t cheap, but that you aren’t going to splash out either because your friends have a new house.

This “everyman” nature of Spanish isn’t a bad thing however. It is because of this that Spain has become the largest wine producer in the European Union, according to data released by Eurostat this week. The data shows that Spanish vineyards account for 30% of vineyards in the EU.

With 940,000 hectares, Spain has a larger area of vineyards than any other member of the EU. France came in second with 803,000 hectares (25%), with Italy snatching third with its 610,000 (19%). Portugal was a distant fourth, with only 199,000 (6%).

There’s an interesting statistic hidden in the data. Romania – which is the fifth-largest wine producer with 184,000 hectares – is also the EU country with the most individual wineries. There are 855,000 wineries in Romania, putting it well ahead of Spain, which came in second with 518,000 wineries.

Spain is still one of the most important producers of plonk in the EU however, as grapes from Spain are used not just in Spanish wine, but also in French and Italian wines. The Castilla-la-Mancha region of Spain is the largest wine producing region; housing 434,000 hectares – 14% of the entire vineyard area of the EU. The other large regions are Languedoc-Roussillon (293,000 hectares) and Aquitaine (144,000 hectares) which are in France.

The EU has a total of 3.2 million hectares of vineyards spread among 2.4 million individual sites. Most nations in the EU have some vineyards at least, all the way from Romania to the UK (553 vineyards) and Luxemburg (326 vineyards).

There are a few EU countries with absolutely no vineyards. They include Belgium – which has beer, Ireland – which has Guinness, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania – where the weather is too cold, Poland, Finland, and Sweden – with similar weather issues, and, perhaps most surprisingly, the Netherlands.

Home Ownership Above EU Average in Spain

Home Ownership Above EU Average in Spain

New data from the statistics office of the European Union – Eurostat- - shows that 78% of Spaniards would describe themselves as being homeowners. As a result Spain is ahead of the EU average of 70%, but the number is a little smaller than the number of 2007; when 81% of Spaniards were homeowners.

Buying property in the Costa del Sol and Spain

continues to be very popular

The amount of people owning homes has fallen in UK, France, and Spain following the recession, but the damage has been mitigated in Spain. The UK is getting close to 60% home ownership, which would be the lowest number for a very long time.

It is the former communist countries that are performing the best with home ownership rates in Europe. Over 95% of Romanians and 90% of Croatians own the homes they live in.

Analysts believe that these figures are an indication of how poorly the real estate market is performing in these countries. They point towards Germany – with it’s regulated rental market – where only 51.9% of Germans are homeowners because renting is the norm there.

It looks like the younger Spanish generation, particularly the Millennials, are not all that interested in owning property because they grew up in a culture where owning things has been replaced by leasing cars, renting mobile phones, and even streaming music and television.

However the slightly contracted rates of home ownership in Spain are caused more by the lasting damage of the past two recessions. Millennials found themselves hit the most by the lean years and so they lack both the confidence and the funds to even think about owning property.

This particular anomaly could be changing however following the latest data from the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) showing that mortgage approvals continue to increase and that young Spaniards are eager to take their first steps on the property ladder.

Even though there are large upfront costs associated with owning a home it does prove to be more cost-effective than renting a property in Spain. The data from Eurostat also shows that Spaniards who rent a property end up paying around 23% more per month on average than their counterparts who purchase property through an owner-occupier mortgage.

Malaga Residents Found to be Among Most Satisfied in EU

Malaga Residents Found to be Among Most Satisfied in EU

A new study ranking EU cities in terms of wellness and satisfaction of their residents has found that Malaga residents are the fourth-most satisfied people in all of Europe.

Costa Del Sol Residents are some of the most

satisfied residents in the EU

The EU study looked at 40,000 EU residents across 79 cities and asked them their general opinions on everything from healthcare, the environment, to safety and leisure facilities. Each city was given a score out of 100, with Malaga getting an overall score of 96. This put the city in fourth place behind Aalborg in Denmark, which got 99, Hamburg in Germany with 98, and Copenhagen, Groningen, Oslo and Zurich, all of which tied with 97.

Malaga was still the top ranked city in Spain. It came out ahead of Oviedo, which scored 94, and the 90 ranking of Barcelona. Four Spanish cities were polled in all and fourth place went to Madrid, which scored 86.

Despite the high score there were some aspects of Malaga that scored poorly. Healthcare in particular scored badly, with one sector awarding a score of just 63 out of 100. Malaga also ranked poorly in Education. A whopping 94% of Malaga citizens said that finding a job was difficult.

Even though Malaga citizens were concerned about how clean the city was, they were still quite happy with the safety, leisure facilities, transport, and cost of living of the city.

The least-satisfied citizens in the EU can be found in Naples, Palermo, and Istanbul. These three are part of a small handful of cities that ranked below 80 points.

It’s Official: Long-Term British Expats Are Ineligible To Vote In EU Referendum

It’s Official: Long-Term British Expats Are Ineligible To Vote In EU Referendum

Its official if you have lived outside the uk for 15 years
you can not vote

This past weekend the British High Court ruled against a legal challenge issued by two long-term British expats. They were fighting to overturn the controversial rule that expats of over fifteen years are not eligible to vote in the EU Referendum set for June 23^rd in which Britain will decide whether it should remain in the European Union or not.

The case was put forward by 94-year old war veteran Harry Shindler, who now resides in Italy, and British lawyer Jacquelyn MacLennan, who now resides in Belgium.

They argued that the law, which prevents British people from voting in general elections and national referendums if they haven’t lived in the UK for more than 15 years, was actually technically illegal under rules set out by the EU. They were confident in their case as Prime Minister David Cameron himself pledged to repeal the law as part of his political campaign. He claimed that the rule was unfair.

The High Court ruled that there was no reason to change the law as it stands. They followed the idea proposed by the government that to change the ruling now, so close to the vote, would only cause confusion and would likely lead to the date of the vote being changed.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mr Justice Blake said they felt there were significant practical difficulties about changing the law. In particular it would be necessary to create a new electoral register that included all of the expats who had been out of the country for more than 15 years.

While the estimates of what that number is vary there are approximately 700,000 Brits living outside of the UK who are currently unable to vote because they have been out of the country for more than 15 years. To add these names to the registry would be difficult, even though the Conservative party promised numerous times to make these changes.

An official spokesman for the Cabinet Office released a statement about the ruling. He said that the government welcomed the decision reached by the High Court. They added that the EU referendum had been debated and agreed by both Houses of Parliament before becoming a recognised piece of legislation.

Mr Shindler was disappointed by the outcome and expressed his sadness that there are still people in Britain that are fighting for the right to vote when Britain is supposed to be a democracy.

This issue has become a major issue across all of Europe as there seems to be an equal amount of people both for and against the 15-year rule.

The barrister who represented the pair said that their rights were threatened by the ruling, along with the rights of the thousands of other Brits who are ineligible to vote. They rely on Britain being a part of the EU so that they can live and work in Europe, as well as own property in Europe and eventually retire there. They need Europe to receive their health care from the NHS.

This isn’t the end of the fight however. The barrister and lawyers representing Shindler and MacLennan have declared their intent to take the case to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land.

Even though there is a lot of demand for a Brexit the polls currently suggest that Britain will remain. The polls show that 53% wish to remain in the EU while 47% wish to leave. Three quarters of the Brits who live outside of the UK are in favour of Britain staying in the EU according to data released by Angloinfo.

The Electoral Commission said that some 106,000 Brits from abroad registered to cast their vote in the last general election in May.

Brits In Spain Need to Speak Out Soon or Miss Their Chance With EU Referendum Vote

Brits In Spain Need to Speak Out Soon or Miss Their Chance With EU Referendum Vote

The numbers may be shocking but it’s worth taking another look at them. There are currently just 283,000 Brits officially registered as a Spanish resident with the padrón. This number is small because it’s only around one quarter of the actual Brits living in Spain. Of this number only 11,000 of them are still registered to vote in the UK.

These are statistics that should worry every Brit with an interest in politics outside of the motherland. It doesn’t matter if they are in Germany, Spain, France or anywhere else in the European Union. They need to correct this oversight.

Brits in Spain need to register their vote

David Cameron recently told the European Commission his plans to renew the terms of the UK’s membership of the EU. He set out a series of reforms, proposals and promises that he would offer British people to entice them to stay in the EU. The vote will still be left to the British people though and a referendum vote could happen as early as June.

Nobody is quite sure what the so-called “Brexit” would do for the EU or Britain itself. There is one thing for sure though. If the British leave the EU then it makes things difficult for the millions of Brits who are already outside of the UK and living elsewhere in the EU.

This is why the British emabassies in Spain and France have launched awareness campaigns to get Brits living there to go and register to vote in the referendum. It’s called the Your Vote Matters campaign and, given how much they will be affected, it’s hard to argue with the name.

Foreign Office Data suggests that only 5% of overseas voters have registered to be involved in the referendum. Other embassies, such as those in Germany, Ireland, Poland, Austria and Denmark are getting involved and using social media to further the awareness campaign.

The British Ambassador to Spain, Simon Manley, met with a community of expats living on the Costa del Sol to show his support for the campaign.

He said that even though expats are interested in the referendum not enough of them are really aware of it. He urged the expats to become more aware about the referendum and how they can get involved. They can register to vote through the government website (www.gov.uk) and you should encourage other people you know to do the same.

Brits who have been abroad for less than 15 years are able to vote through the constituency they used to live. It is pretty simple to register from overseas but it can take longer than most people realise.

This is why expats with properties inland Spain and elsewhere are being encouraged to visit www.gov.uk/register-to-vote. They should have their passport with them and their previous UK postcode ready to speed up the process.