The number of births attended in 2003 was 19,191, 5.8% more than the previous year, according to Eustat data. This figure is the highest of the last seventeen years (1987-2003) and confirms the growing trend in maternity since 1996. Multiple births continue to increase, with a 12.9% increase in relation to the previous year.

Public hospitals attended 88.6% of all births while private hospitals attended 11.4%. 15.6% of the former where caesarean, a figure which is close to the 15% which is recommended by the WHO as an acceptable rate of caesareans and at a considerable distance from the 22.5% that are practised in the State (2001).

In addition, cases attended in the emergency services in Basque hospitals continue to rise. 1,043,230 emergencies were registered in 2003 and represented a 4.3% increase with regard to the previous year, while the proportion that required patient hospitalization (13%) continued to fall (from 15.1% in 1995 to 13% in 2003).

Outpatient services, after emergencies, was the care activity which increased most. A total of 2,122,406 appointments were carried out at hospital centres, which represents a 4.1% increase with regard to the year before. This increase was greater in the public (4.6%) than the private sphere (2.5%).

The number of surgical operations came to 214,028, 2.3% more than the year before. 53.5% of the operations carried out required the patient to be hospitalised and the remaining 46.5% received outpatient care.

In 2003 the A.C. of the Basque Country had a network of 44 hospitals with 7,985 beds, which represented 3.9 births per 1,000 inhabitants. 68.2% of births corresponded to the public sector and 31.8% to the private sector. According to the care location 69.1% correspond to acute hospitals, 22.5% to psychiatric centres and 8.3% to medium-long stay hospitals.

Despite the decrease in the number of births (-1.5%) in 2003, as a result of the closure of a private hospital, hospitalization activity shows an increase in use per bed. Thus an increase in hospital admissions is confirmed, 2%, the increase in the number of patients attended per bed (from 33.5 to 34.7 in 2003) and the fall in the average hospital stay: 8.9 days in 2002 to 8.7 days in 2003.

In addition, hospital health expenditure in the A.C. of the Basque Country came to 1,318 million euros, which represented 2.8% of Basque GDP. With a 7.4% increase with regard to 2002, above the increase in nominal GDP (5.1%) for the third consecutive year. From total expenditure, 1,258 million corresponded to current expenditure and 60 million to investment, and expenditure per inhabitant in 2003 was 641€, 7.6% more than the previous year.

The hospital health sector employed a collective of 19,887 people, 171 persons more than the previous year. The workforce comprises of 75.5 % health personnel and the remaining 24.5 % non-health personnel. 88.4% of hospital personnel worked in acute hospitals, 7.2% in psychiatric hospitals and 4.3% in medium and long stay hospitals.