Provisional data on Birth Statistics 2002 sets the number of births at 18,051, which without the information referring to births of Basque residents outside the A.C. of the Basque Country, represents a 2.3% increase with regard to 2001, according to Eustat data.

Of the 4,531 children born in the A.C. of the Basque Country in the fourth quarter of 2002, 1,522 were born in October, 1,466 in November and 1,543 in December. By provinces, 619 babies were born in Álava, 2,373 in Bizkaia and 1,539 in Gipuzkoa.

According to the order of birth, over half (59.5%), 2,695 babies, were first born; 1,561 (34.5%) were born into families that already had a child; third and later born came to 275 (6.1%).

In the distribution of births according to age, there is still a clear predominance of the group of mothers aged 30-34, to whom 44.4% of births corresponded. This group is followed by the immediately higher group of 35-39 year olds with 26.8%, above the group aged 25-29 that contributed with 19.6%, while the group of 20-24 year olds only gave birth to 4.7% of the new born.

Maternity among women aged over 40 (3.5%) is higher than among young women aged under 20 (1%).

Births outside marriage represented 18.6% of the total, above the rate registered in the same period in 2001. By provinces, Alava registered the highest percentage (21.2%), followed by Gipuzkoa with 19.2% and Bizkaia with 17.6%.