Annual accumulated figure came to 13,101 births
Data for the third quarter of 2001 for Birth Statistics give a figure of 4,412 births in the A.C. of Euskadi, 4.3% more than in the same period the previous year, according to EUSTAT data. By provinces, 601 children were born in Álava, 2.257 in Bizkaia and 1,554 in Gipuzkoa.
According to the order of birth, over half, 2,583 children (58.5%), were first born in the third quarter of 2001; 1,588 children (36%) were born to families that already had another child and 241 (5.5%) were third or later in the order of birth. Alava was the only province were the proportion of third born or later was higher than the average of the A.C. of Euskadi.
Almost half the mothers were aged between 30 and 34
In the distribution of births according to age, there is still a clear preponderance in the group of mothers aged 30-34, among which almost half the births occur. This group is followed by the immediately higher age group of 35-39 year olds, with 25.9%, surpassing the group of 25-29 year olds who account for 20.8%. In the extreme age groups, the under 25 year olds represent 5.2% while the over 40 year olds represent only 2.7%.
Births outside marriage represent 16.1% of the total, having increased almost one percent with regard to the third quarter of 2000. In Alava this proportion was higher than the whole of the A.C. of Euskadi (18.0%). The maternity age of this group was younger than for the whole of the women who had children, as 16.4% of the non-married mothers were aged under 25.