Press Release 18/09/2009

BIRTH STATISTICS (ENAC), 1st quarter 2009

Births fell by 3.4% in the first quarter of 2009

Over half were first children

There were 4,961 births in the first quarter of 2009 in the Basque Country, which was down 3.4% on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. By provinces, the number of births fell in Bizkaia and in Gipuzkoa, by -4.2% and -4.6% respectively, but increased by 2.1% in Álava. Specifically, 787 children were born in Álava, 2538 in Bizkaia and 1636 in Gipuzkoa.

In terms of birth sequence, over half of the children (2787) were first children in the first quarter of 2009; 1774 children (35.8%) were born into families where there already was another child and the percentage of third or subsequent children stood at 8.1%.

As refers to the distribution of births according the age of the mother, there continued to be a clear preponderance of the 30-34 year-old age group, in which almost half of the births took place. This group is followed by the next oldest group, aged between 35-39, which accounted for 28.2% and was ahead of the 25-29 age group, with 15.8% of births. At either end of the scale, the group of mothers under 25 accounted for 6,7% of births, whereas mothers over 40 lagged slightly behind, with 5.2% of the total births.

The percentage of single mothers remained unchanged

Births outside marriage accounted for 29.9% of the total, a similar percentage as the first quarter of 2008. Bizkaia (29.3%) was the only province with values under those for the Basque Country overall. Single mothers give birth when younger than the rest of women with children as a whole, as 17.8% of unmarried mothers were under 25.



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