Provisional data for the Birth Statistics of 2003 puts the number of births at 19,189, which, in the absence of information relating to children of residents of the A.C. of the Basque Country born elsewhere, means an increase of 6.4% with regard to 2002, according to Eustat data.

Of the 4,819 children who were born in the A.C. of the Basque Country in the fourth quarter of 2003, 6.4% more than in the fourth quarter of 2002, 1,611 were born in October, 1,635 in November and 1,573 in December. By province, 659 children were born in Álava, 2,465 in Bizkaia and 1,695 in Gipuzkoa, an increase for all three provinces in relation to the same quarter of the previous year.

As regards the order of births, more than half (59.3%), 2,857 children, were the first-born; 1,650 children (34.2%) were born into families that already had one other child; third and subsequent children accounted for 312 (6.5%).

As for the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, there continued to be a clear predominance of mothers aged 30-34, which made up 45.5% of births. This group was followed by the next age bracket of 35-39 year-olds with 26.6%, surpassing the 25-29 year-old group, which contributed 18.7%, with those aged 20-24 accounting for a mere 4.8%.

Motherhood was more common at over 40 (3.3%) than among young women under 20 (1%).

Children born outside matrimony accounted for 20.9% of the total, which was higher than the index registered during the same period in 2002. By province, the highest percentage was in Gipuzkoa (21.7%), followed by Bizkaia with 20.6% and Alava with 20.5%.