With per capita incomes at 92% of the EU average (on 1998 figures - making it the fifth most
prosperous Spanish region) and unemployment close to 16% (1999 figures), the Basque Country has a manufacturing base character
ised by a number of traditional industrial sectors (metallurgy, ferrous metals, non-metallic minerals, paper), clustered around the conurbations of Bilbao and San Sebas
tián; research and development spending accounts f ...[+++]or only 1.2% of the region's GDP (the European average is 1.8%).