5,285 births were registered in the third quarter of 2007 in the A.C. of the Basque Country, meaning a 4.4% increase compared to the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. By province, 788 children were born in Álava, with growth of 5.6%; in Bizkaia, with 2,636 births, the percentage of growth stood at 4.6%, while Gipuzkoa experienced lesser growth, 3.7%, with 1,861 births.

Turning to the order of birth, over half, 3,120 children were the first-born children in the third quarter of 2007; 1,807 children (34.2%) were born into families where there was already another child and the percentage of children who were the third or subsequent accounted for 6.8%. Gipuzkoa (44.2%) was the only Province where the proportion of second or subsequent children was greater than the average for the A.C. of the Basque Country, which stood at 41%.

In three out of four births the mothers were aged over 30

In the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, the clear superiority of the 30-34 age bracket maintained itself, producing 45.2% of births. This group was followed by the neighbouring 35-39 age group, with 25.9%, surpassing the 25-29 year-olds, who provided 17.5%. In the groups at either end of the age scale, the under-25s accounted for 5.8%, while those aged over 40 contributed 4.6% of births.

Children born out of matrimony accounted for 28.4% of the total, 3.4 points higher than the figure corresponding to the third quarter of 2006. Bizkaia, with 29.3%, was the only province with values higher than the A.C. of the Basque Country as a whole. The maternity age for this group was lower than the overall one for women who had had children, since 17.9% of unmarried mothers were aged between 14 and 24.

Table 1. Live born in the A.C. of Euskadi. Comparative table

Graph 1: Monthly movement of births

Base 100 = average. Source: EUSTAT