In the fourth quarter of 2004, 4,887 children were born in the A.C. of the Basque Country, 1.4% more than in the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat. Of these, 1,598 were born in October, 1,593 in November and 1,696 in December. By province, 689 children were born in Álava, 2,517 in Bizkaia and 1,681 in Gipuzkoa.

Provisional data for the 2004 Birth Statistics put the number of births at 19,448, which, in the absence of information regarding births to residents of the A.C. of the Basque Country taking place outside of it, meant an increase of 1.3% with regard to 2003.

As for the order of birth, over half (58.1%), 2,841 children, were first-born; 1,736 children (35.5%) were born into families that already had another child; third and subsequent children totalled 310 (6,3%).

In the distribution of births according to age, the group of mothers aged 30-34 clearly remained the most numerous, accounting for 44.5% of births. This group was followed by the age bracket above, aged 35-39, with 27%, outnumbering the group aged 25-29, which contributed 18.2%, while those aged 20-24 accounted for only 4.5%.

Women aged over 40 becoming mothers (4.4%) outnumbered those who gave birth aged under 20 (1.4%).

Births outside of marriage accounted for 23.1% of the total, two percentage points higher than the index registered in the same period of 2003. By province, the highest percentage was in Alava (26%), followed by Bizkaia with 24% and Gipuzkoa with 20.5%.