Provisional data on Birth Statistics 2001 set the number of births at 17,505, which without information referring to births occurring outside the A.C. of the Basque Country by residents, represents a 1.9% increase with regard to the year 2000, according to Eustat data.
Of the 4,383 babies born in the A.C. of the Basque Country in the fourth quarter of 2001, 1,509 were born in October, 1,493 in November and 1,381 in December. By provinces, 572 were born in Álava, 2,261 in Bizkaia and 1,550 in Gipuzkoa.
According to the order of birth, over half (58.8%), 2,579 were
first children; 1,543 (35.2%) were born to families that already had another
child; the number of third and subsequent children came to 261 (6%).
Three out of four births correspond to mothers aged over 30
The distribution of births according to the age of the mother
shows a clear predominance of births among the 30-34 years age group, who account
for 45.7% of births. This group is followed by the immediately superior group
of 35-39 year-olds with 25%, ahead of the 25-29 years age group with 20.5%;
while the 20-24 years age group only represent 4.6%.
Maternity among the over 40s (3.4%) is higher than among young
women aged under 20 (0.8%).
Births outside marriage represented 17.4% of the total, higher
than the rate registered in the same period in 2000. By provinces, the highest
percentage was in Bizkaia (18%), followed by Alava with 17.8% and Gipuzkoa with
16.3%.