Turnover in Spain’s Private Security Sector was €4,214 million
Spain’s Private Security sector billed €4,214 million in 2020, according to the latest Aproser report, which includes the most recent figures for the industry. By segment, Surveillance reached €2,560 million, up 0.9% from the previous year, Systems & Alarms also increased revenues by 0.5% to €1,393 million. Cash in Transit closed the year with €261 million.
The source of business was not significantly different from previous years, with 79% coming from the private sector, compared to 21% from the public sector. In terms of demand, the leading segments for Surveillance are Services and Industry & Energy, accounting for 17.9% and 17.6% of turnover, respectively. Next come Transportation Infrastructure with 15.9% and Trade with 15.5%.
There are 1586 private security companies across Spain, of which 1361 are authorised by the Ministry of the Interior, 202 by the Generalitat de Catalunya and 23 by the Basque Government. There were 85,700 active private security guards, 85% of them on a permanent contract, a sign of the sector’s long-standing commitment to quality and stability in employment. The average age of private security guards is 47 years, and around 11,000 (13%) are women.
Quality Jobs
One of the strengths that characterise the sector, which is still very people-intensive, is creating quality jobs as consumption recovers. The current sanitary situation has led to new private security roles.
On the other hand, the latest edition of the Sociological Study on the Perception of Private Security in Spain, by Canal Sondeo, concludes that people generally feel safer with more security guards. Specifically, nine out of ten Spaniards (86%) feel safer in places with security guards. This figure is up from 79% five years ago, in the previous edition, of people who said they felt made them feel very safe or fairly safe when guards were present.