4,980 births were registered in the second quarter of 2003, according to Eustat data, which means an 8% rise in relation to the same period last year. By province, 763 children were born in Álava, a 16.7% rise; in Bizkaia, where there were 2,504 births, the growth came to 5%, while in Gipuzkoa it was 9%, with 1,713 births.

In terms of the order of births in the second quarter of 2003, more than half of the children, 2,826 were first born; 1,877 children (37.7%) were born into families where there was already one other child and 5.6% into families with two or more children. Gipuzkoa (45.8%) was the only province where the proportion of second or subsequent children was higher than the average of the A.C. of the Basque Country, which stands at 43.3%.

In three out of four births, the mother is over 30 years old

As regards the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, the 30-34 age group continues to predominate, accounting for almost half of all births. This group is followed by the neighbouring 35-39 age bracket with 24.7%, and then the 25-29 year-olds who make up 18.7%. As for those groups at the far ends of the age range, 5.1% of births were to the under-25 group, while women over 40 make up only 3.7%.

Births outside marriage account for 18.7% of the total, which means a rise of one percent in relation to the second quarter of 2002. Bizkaia, with 18.4%, was the only province with lower values than the A.C. of the Basque Country as a whole. The age of mothers in this group was less than that of mothers overall, since 17.6% of unmarried mothers were between 14 and 24 years old.