Press Release 09/08/2012
The birth rate for the Basque Country was under the average of EU-27 countries
9.7 births for every 1000 inhabitants were registered, compared to 10.7 births in the EU-27
The Basque Country stands among the EU-27 countries with the lowest number of births, according to Eustat data for 2010. With 9.7 births for every 1000 inhabitants, it was under the average of the EU-27, which stood at 10.7 births, and it only exceeded Malta (9.6), Portugal (9.5), Austria (9.4), Italy (9.3), Hungary (9.0), Latvia (8.6) and Germany (8.3). On the other hand, the highest rates were posted by Ireland (16.5), the United Kingdom (13.0) and France (12.9). The Spanish birth rate was 10.5 per 1000 inhabitants.
If this data is compared with the 1975 figures, a radical change can be seen, as the Basque Country then had 19.1 births per 1000 inhabitants. While the figure for Spain was 18.8 in that year, the average for this indicator for the countries making up the EU-27 stood at 14.7 births. The difference between both years (1975-2010) was much less marked than in our Community.
As far as the mortality rate was concerned, if there were 7.1 deaths per 1000 inhabitants in the Basque Country in 1975, this figure had increased to 8.9 deaths in 2010. The rate for Spain stood at 8.4 and 8.3 deaths, respectively. If the figures for the EU-27 are analysed, the average stood at 10.7 deaths per 1000 inhabitants in 1975, compared to 9.7 deaths in 2010. The decline observed in the Basque Country is due to the ageing of the population.
In this sense, it is worth mentioning that in 2010 the Basque Country had the highest population percentage aged 65 or over (21.1%) of all the EU-27 countries (17.4% on average) and also the lowest population aged15 or under (14.6%), with the European average being 5.6%. These percentages stood at 16.9% and 14.9% for Spain.
Taking 2000 as the reference year, the figures for the Basque Country were 17.2% for those aged 65 or over and 12.0% for those under 14, while they were 16.8% and 14.9% in Spain, respectively.
For further information:
Basque Statistics Institute
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: Manu Riveiros
Tel:+34-945-01 75 62 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01
Further press releases on The Basque Country in the EU-27