4,919 babies were born in the fourth quarter of 2005 in the A.C. of the Basque Country, 0.7% more than the same period the year before, according to Eustat data. 1,593 were born in October, 1,632 in November and 1,694 in December. By provinces, 647 children were born in Álava, 2,594 in Bizkaia and 1,678 in Gipuzkoa.

The provisional data for Birth Statistics in 2005 place the number of births at 19,584, which represents a 0.7% increase with regard to 2004.

Over the last quarter of 2005 and according to the order of birth, over half (57.8%), 2,845 children, were first born; 1,758 (35.7%) were born to families that already had another child, third born and subsequent births in order came to a total of 316 (6.4%).

In the distribution of births according to age, there was still a clear preponderance in the group of mothers aged 30-34, which represent 45.2% of all births. This group is followed by the immediately higher age group of 35-39 year-olds with 26.9%, surpassing the group of 25-29 year olds who represented 17.6%, while the group of 20-24 year olds only represented 5.8%.

Maternity among the over 40 year-olds (4.5%) was higher than among young women aged under 20 (1.2%).

Births outside matrimony represented 25.6% of the total, 2.5 percentage points above the index registered in the same period in 2004. By provinces, Alava saw the highest percentage (29.1%), followed by Bizkaia with 25.1% and Gipuzkoa with 24.9%.