Press Release 23/03/2009
BIRTH STATISTICS (ENAC), 3rd quarter 2008
The number of births rose by 1.9% in the third quarter of 2008
Second and subsequent children increased by 7%
During the third quarter of 2008, 5,417 births were registered in the Basque County, which was up 1.9% on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. By provinces, 819 children were born in Álava, up 3.4%, which was the same growth percentage as in Bizkaia, with 2,742 births, while there was a negative fluctuation of 0.8% in Gipuzkoa, with 1,856 births.
In terms of the birth order, over half (3,085) were first children in the third quarter of 2008; 1,937 (35.8%) were born to families that already had another child and 7.3% were the third or subsequent child. Gipuzkoa (43.5%) was the only province where the proportion of second or later children was greater than the average for the Basque Country (43%).
77.5% births were to mothers over 30 years old
As regards to the distribution of births according the age of the mother, there continued to be a clear preponderance of the 30-34 age group, in which 43.6% of the births took place. This group is followed by the next oldest group, aged between 35-39, which accounted for 28.6% and was ahead of the 25-29 age group, with 15.6% of births. At either end of the scale, the group of mothers under 25 accounted for 7.0% of births, whereas mothers over 40 accounted for 5.2% of the total births.
Births outside marriage accounted for 29.9% of the total. Gipuzkoa (28.7%) was the only province with figures below that for the Basque Country as a whole. The age of the women in this group is younger than the overall figure for women with children, as 16.1% of unmarried mothers were between 14 and 24 years old, while this group only accounted for 7% of the total number of mothers. .
Table 1. Children born alive in the Basque Country. Comparative Table
Source: EUSTAT
Graph 1. Monthly birth movement
Base100 = Average
Source: EUSTAT
For further information:
Basque Statistics Office
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tlf:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.es
Contact: Martín González Hernández
Tlf:+34-945-01 75 49 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01
Online press releases: www.eustat.es