This article presents an exploratory study of the current status of public relationsin Spain on the basis of elements and indicators applied to other countries in thestudy The Global Public Relations Handbook (2009). Spain is one of the most notableabsentees from the study; this article therefore fills a hole in current public relationsresearch and theory. The conclusion is that Spain is a country that has undergoneradical change, from a dictatorship to one of the world’s most democratic systems,substantially transforming its economic system, its culture and its society. Thistransformation has had a crucial effect on the practice of those professions whichhave freedom of expression as their legal foundation; one such example is publicrelations, which has grown from an emerging industry into an established profession