Press release 23/03/2010

BIRTH STATISTICS (ENAC), 3rd quarter 2009

The number of births fell by 5.7% in the third quarter of 2009

77.3% of the births were to mothers over 30 years old

During the third quarter of 2009, 5,163 births were registered in the Basque County, which was down 5.7% on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. All the provinces recorded a downturn: 765 children were born in Álava, down 6.7%, while births were down by 2.2% in Bizkaia and by 10.3% in Gipuzkoa (2,688 and 1710 births, respectively)

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 43.7% of the births took place. This group is followed by the next oldest group, aged between 35-39, which accounted for 28.9% 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 6.9% of births, whereas mothers over 40 accounted for 4.7% of the total births.

The number of second and subsequent children fell by 6.7%, one percentage point over the average

In terms of the birth order, over half (2,967) were first children in the third quarter of 2009; 1,792 (35%) were born to families that already had another child and 8% were the third or subsequent child. Álava (39%) was the only province where the proportion of second or later children was lower than the average for the Basque Country (43%).

The drop in the number of second and subsequent children with respect to the same quarter of 2008 was most noticeable in Álava, with 14.8%. Gipuzkoa registered a 9.9% downturn and Bizkaia (2.1%) was the only province under the average decrease (6.7%).

Births outside marriage accounted for 32.7% of the total. Álava (35.3%) was the only province with figures over that for the Basque Country as a whole. Single mothers have their children at an earlier age than that of mothers as a whole, as 15.4% of them were between 14 and 24 when they gave birth, while this group only accounts for 6.9% if we consider the mothers as a whole.

For further information:

Euskal Estatistika-Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística (Eustat) C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Tlf:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: : eustat@eustat.eus Contact: Martín González Hernández Tlf:+34-945-01 75 49 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 Más notas de prensa de Nacimientos