Press Release 19/09/2013

BIRTH STATISTICS OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (ENAC) 1ST QUARTER 2013

Births in the Basque Country fell by 8.8% in the first quarter of 2013

41.8% of mothers were aged 35 or over and 37.5% were unmarried

In the first quarter of 2013 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 4,530, which was a drop of 8.8% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eustat data. The number of births fell in the three provinces but to different degrees: in Gipuzkoa the fall was 14.7%, in Álava, 7,4% and in Bizkaia, 5.2%. Specifically, in Álava 740 girls and boys were born, 1,455 were born in Gipuzkoa and 2,335 in Bizkaia.

In the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, there continued to be a clear preponderance of the 30-34 year-old age group, in which 39.5% of births took place. This group was followed by the group immediately above it (mothers aged 35-39), which accounted for 34.4% and was ahead of the 25-29 age group, which accounted for 13.4%.

Despite the decrease in the number of births with regards to the same quarter of 2012, the number of women who became mothers aged 40 or over rose, going from 322 in 2012 to 337 in 2013. The births from these women made up 7.4% of the total, exceeding the 5.2% of births produced by mothers younger than 25.

Births outside marriage accounted for 37.5% of the total, a figure 1.2 percentage points above that for the first quarter of 2012. Gipuzkoa, with 34.8%, was the only province to post lower figures than the Basque Country as a whole, whereas Bizkaia posted 38.9% and Álava 38.5%. The maternity age of this group was below that of the overall group of women that had children, given that 10.1% of unmarried mothers were under the age of 25.

According to the order of birth, in the first quarter of 2013 more than half, 2,385 children, were first born; 1,777 girls and boys (39.2%) arrived in families that already had another son or daughter, and the percentage of third or subsequent children stood at 8.1%.

17.8% of mothers were foreign nationals

In 17.8% of births in the Basque Country during the first three months of 2013, the mother was a foreign national. This figure was significantly higher in Álava where it stood at 23.8%, against the 16.7% in Bizkaia and the 16.5% in Gipuzkoa.

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