It takes no account of how income is shared out, or of how it is generated.
Individual voluntary arrangements – where money is shared out between creditors – also fell sharply to 10,405.
Income is shared out less evenly than in most rich countries (among OECD members, only Italy and America are more unequal).
Their 24m people between them generate more income than Spain's 40m, and their national wealth is shared out more evenly than elsewhere.
The American census, for example, determines how around $200 billion a year of federal funds is shared out, for everything from education and welfare to highways.
A lot was made of childhood maltreatment and abuse, but also important was "how affection is shared out in families – how striving behaviour is encouraged", he said.
The figures showed a sharp jump in the use of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), which are agreements whereby money is shared out between creditors.
Down in Tenerife, they were sharing out €1.25m.
In the new cabinet, power has been shared out too.
It can perfectly well be shared out differently.
