It’s been another fantastic year at the EL PAÍS English Edition, with more readers than ever before checking out our stories, and the United States topping the list for the second year running in terms of where we see the highest web traffic.
There’s been no end of great material from the Spanish edition of the paper for us to run in English, and as always our team have enjoyed every minute of bringing our readers Spanish news and features from EL PAÍS.
We also launched our #QuePodcast this year, which has given English Edition editor Simon Hunter and his colleague Melissa Kitson hours of fun behind the microphone.
Thanks to all of our readers and followers on Twitter and Facebook for all of your support as always.
Here, if you missed them, are the most-read features we ran this year, starting with 20 to 11.
20. The woman who took a baby rattle to her execution
This touching story of Catalina Muñoz, who was carrying her son’s baby rattle with her when she was shot in 1936, was of great interest to our readers. Archaeologists recovered the toy as they were looking for 250 victims of the Franco regime’s repression in Palencia, in northern Spain.
19. Inside Spain’s new brothels: residential apartments
This feature looked at how sex traffickers are placing women in private properties, where they are forced to pay €250 a week for a shared room, and hand over 50% of what they make from clients.
18. Why Spain is now one of the top five countries for expats
Stories about how Spain compares to the rest of the world never fail to generate interest, and this one was no exception. This article explored why the country had jumped to fourth position on the HSBC Expat Explorer Survey, with 83% of foreign residents saying their overall wellbeing had improved since arriving in Spain.
17. Lost archive of civil war photos discovered after 72 years
A historian located more than 500 images taken by the Hungarian photographer Kati Horna between 1937 and 1938, when she was working for the CNT anarchist labor union.
16. Spain continues to have one of the worst levels of English in Europe
A study placed Spain in 25th spot on a list of 33 European states with respect to its proficiency in the English language.
15. Makers of Netflix’s ‘Alcàsser Murders’: “We saw that evil was among us”
The directors behind the documentary Alcàsser Murders, Ramón Campos and Elías León Siminiani, discussed why they thought it was time to shed new light on one of Spain’s most notorious murder cases – the abduction and rape of three three teenage girls from the Valencian village of Alcàsser.
14. Meet the most sought-after young men in Madrid
The stars of the Netflix hit series Elite, Omar Ayuso and Arón Piper talked to EL PAÍS about their rise to fame, and the success of the Spanish show.
13. Wealth map of Spain: These are the country’s richest and poorest areas
Using data from Spain’s National Institute of Statistics, EL PAÍS put together an interactive map based on the average per capita income. Madrid and Barcelona were home to 10 of the country’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
12. The reasons why Cádiz is so cool
Travel stories always have great appeal. This feature, from El Viajero, looked at why the southern province had been ranked on The New York Times’ list of best trips for 2019.
11. Spain is the world’s healthiest nation, according to Bloomberg index
After climbing six rungs from 2017 and pushing Italy from first spot, Spain ranked at the top of the Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, which considers several factors that contribute to overall health, such as life expectancy at birth, sanitation and health services.