Press Release 30/05/2014

BIRTH STATISTICS OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (ENAC) 4TH QUARTER 2013

Births fell by 6,5% in the fourth quarter of 2013

Nearly 20% of mothers were foreign nationals

In the fourth quarter of 2013 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 4,587, 6.5% down on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data.

18.3% of women who gave birth in the Basque Country in the autumn of 2013 were foreigners. This percentage was only higher in Álava, where it stood at 25.5%, whereas in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa the number of non-Spanish mothers stood at 16.4% and 17.7%, respectively.

All provinces saw a decrease in the number of registered births: Gipuzkoa, with 1,506 boys and girls, experienced the steepest decline (-7.4%); Bizkaia and Álava, with 2,323 and 758 births, respectively, posted downturns of 7% and 3.3% compared to the same quarter of last year.

80% of mothers were over 30 years of age

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 38.2% of the births took place. This group was followed by the group immediately above it (mothers aged 35-39), which accounted for 34.8% of births, doubling that of the 25-29 age group, with 13.9% of births. The number of mothers above the age of 40 (7.5%) exceeded those under 25 (5.6%).

The age of maternity also varied according to nationality. In fact, the average age of foreign mothers was 29.8, compared to 33.9 for mothers with Spanish nationality.

The number of births of unmarried mothers came close to 40%

Births outside marriage in the fourth quarter of 2013 accounted for 38.8% of the total, up nearly two percentage points on the number registered for the same period in 2012.

According to the order of birth, over half (55.2%) of births, or 2,531, were first-borns; 1,672 (36.5%) were born into families that already had a child, and the number of third children and later stood at 384 (8.4%).

Of the total number of births in the 4th quarter of 2013, 1,620 took place in October, 1,468 in November and 1,499 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