Press release dated 17/06/2011

BIRTH STATISTICS OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (ENAC) 4th QUARTER 2010

Births in the Basque Country rose by 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010

More women become mothers after 40 than when under 25

In the fourth quarter of 2010, the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 5,366, 3.8% up on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. These can be broken down as follows: 1,761 of the births were in October, 1,675 in November and 1,672 in December.

All the provinces registered a hike in the number of births registered: Bizakai, with 2,779 children born, posted an increase of 6.5%, Álava and Gipzukoa, with 816 and 1,771, respectively, registered growth of 2.8% and of 0.4%, when compared to the previous quarter of the year.

According to the birth order, over half the births (2,939 births and 55%) were first children, 1,954 babies (36%) were born to families that already had another child and there were 473 babies who were the third or more children (9%).

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 41.6% of the births took place. This group was followed by the group immediately above it (mothers aged 35-39), which accounted for 32.8% of births and was ahead of the 25-29 age group, with 13.2% of births. There were more mothers giving birth aged 40 and over (6.4%) than under 25 (6.1%).

The 70 adolescent mothers (aged 16 or under) accounted for 1.3% of the total mothers, a percentage slightly higher than the 1.1% registered for the same quarter of the previous year.

The number of births to single mothers rose to 35%

Births outside marriage in the fourth quarter of 2010 accounted for 34.5% of the total, up 2.3 percentage points on the number registered for the same period of 2009.

16% of women who gave birth in the Basque Country in the autumn months of 2010 were foreigners. This percentage was only higher in Álava where it stood at 23.7%. The figure for the mothers who did not have Spanish nationality in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa was 15.1% and 13.8%, respectively.

The age at which women became mothers varied according to their nationality. In fact, the average age of the foreigners was 29.2 years old, compared to 33.6 years old for mothers with Spanish nationality.

For further information:

Basque Statistics Office C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Tel: +34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.es Contact: Martín González Hernández Tel:+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