Press release dated 17/12/2010

BIRTH STATISTICS OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (ENAC) 2nd QUARTER 2010

Births fell by 4.9% in the second quarter of 2010

One out of every three births in this quarter was outside marriage

5,163 babies were born in the Basque Country in the second quarter of 2010, according to Eustat data, down 4.9% on the figure for the same period of the previous year. By provinces, 876 children were born in Álava, which was up 3.8% on the number in births for the second quarter of 2009. In Bizkaia, where 2,579 children were born, births fell by 2.9%, while there were 1,708 births in Gipuzkoa, down by 11,4%.

Births outside marriage accounted for 32.5% of the total, a higher percentage than the 29.9% recorded in the same quarter of 2009. Bizkaia (32.8%) was the only province with values higher than those for the Basque Country overall. The percentages were slightly lower in Álava and Gipuzkoa: 31.4% and 32.4%, respectively.

As refers to birth sequence, over half of the births (2,832) were first children in the second quarter of 2010; 1,910 children (37.0%) were born into families where there was already another child and the percentage of third or later children stood at 8.2%. Gipuzkoa (44.3%) was the only province where the proportion of second or later children was greater than the average for the Basque Country (45,1%). Gipuzkoa was slightly higher than the average with 45.3% and Álava had the highest percentage (47.5%).

78% of the births were to mothers over 30 years old

With regard to the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, there continued to be a clear preponderance of the 30-34 year age group, in which 42.2% of the births took place. This group is followed by the next oldest group, aged between 35-39, which accounted for 30.5% of the births and was ahead of the 25-29 age group (15.9% ). At either end of the scale, the group of mothers under 25 accounted for 6.3% of births, whereas mothers over 40 lagged slightly behind, with 5.2% of the total births.

Single mothers give birth when younger than the rest of women with children as a whole, as 14.% of unmarried mothers were under 25 and 22% between 25 and 29 years old.

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 Further press releases on BIRTH STATISTICS of the Basque Country Database on BIRTH STATISTICS of the Basque Country