Press Release 31/05/2013

BIRTH STATISTICS OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (ENAC) 4TH QUARTER 2012

Births fell by 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2012

17.3% of new mothers were foreign nationals

In the fourth quarter of 2012 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 4,903, 7.5% down on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data.

17.3% of women who became mothers in the Basque Country in the autumn of 2012 were foreign. This percentage was only higher in Álava, where it stood at 22.4%, whereas in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa the number of non-Spanish mothers stood at 16.5% and 16.1%, respectively.

All provinces experienced a decrease in the number of registered births: With 782 boys and girls Álava experienced the greatest drop (-9.7%); Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, with 2,495 and 1,626 births, respectively, registered drops of 7.5% and 6.3% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

80.5% of mothers were aged 30 or over

As regards 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 38.5% of the births took place. This group was followed by the group immediately above it (mothers aged 35-39), which accounted for 34.7%, over double that of the 25-29 age group, which accounted for 13.8%. The number of mothers above the age of 40 (7.3%) exceeded those under 25 (5.7%).

The age at which women became mothers also varied when taking into account their nationality. In fact, the average age of foreign mothers was 29.6, compared to 33.8 for mothers with Spanish nationality.

The number of births from unmarried mothers stood at around 37%

Births outside marriage in the fourth quarter of 2012 accounted for 36.9% of the total, up half a percentage point on the number registered for the same period in 2011.

According to the order of birth, over half of births, 2,749 (56.1%), were first-borns; 1,745 (35.6%) were born into families that already had a child, and the number of third children and later order stood at 409 (8.3%).

Of the total number of births in the 4th quarter of 2012, 1,704 took place in October, 1,599 in November and 1,600 in December.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62 Further press releases on BIRTH STATISTICS of the Basque Country Database on BIRTH STATISTICS of the Basque Country