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Press Release 29/05/2015

BIRTH STATISTICS. IV/2014

Births rose by 0,7% in the fourth quarter of 2014

The variation in the number of births in 2014 was also positive, increasing by 1.4%

In the fourth quarter of 2014 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 4,632, 0.7% up on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data.

18.4% of women who gave birth in the Basque Country in the autumn of 2014 were of foreign nationality. Only Bizkaia saw a lower percentage, standing at 16.7%, whereas in Gipuzkoa and Álava 19% and 22.4% of mothers were not Spanish nationals, respectively.

All provinces saw a year-on-year increase in the number of registered births: Álava, with 772 boys and girls, experienced the steepest rise (+1.8%); Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, with 1,534 and 2,326 births, respectively, posted upturns of 1% and 0.1%, all in comparison to the same quarter of 2013.

More than 80% of mothers were over 30 years of age

As regards the distribution of births according the age of the mother, there continued to be a preponderance of the 30-34 year-old age group, among which 37% of the births took place. This group was followed by the group immediately above it (mothers aged 35-39), which accounted for 36.2% of births, whereas the 25-29 age group accounted for 13.6%. The number of mothers above the age of 40 (7.9%) exceeded those under 25 (5.3%).

The age of maternity also varied according to nationality. In fact, the average age of foreign mothers was 30.6, compared to 34 for mothers with Spanish nationality.

The number of births from unmarried mothers exceeded 40%

Births outside marriage in the fourth quarter of 2014 accounted for 42.2% of the total, up nearly 3.3 percentage points on the number registered for the same period in 2013.

According to the order of birth, over half (54.6%) of births, or 2,530, were first-borns; 1,673 (36.1%) were born into families that already had a child, and the number of third and subsequent children stood at 429 (9.3%).

Of the total number of births in the 4th quarter of 2014, 1,588 took place in October, 1,506 in November and 1,538 in December.

The variation in the number of births in 2014 was positive (1.4% more than in 2013)

For 2014 as a whole, the provisional birth rate reached 19,288, which is equivalent to an increase of 170 (1.4%) compared to data from 2013. This increase occurred in all three territories, though it was especially notable in Álava, with 175 more births, equivalent to 5.7%. In Gipuzkoa, the increase was 1.1% and in Bizkaia it was 0.2%.

The main increases occurred among younger mothers, of up to 24 years of age (9.8%), and older mothers, aged 40 over (3.5%). Furthermore, increases in unmarried (6.7%) and foreign (5%) mothers were significant. It is also worth mentioning the growth in live births of third or subsequent children (8.8%).

Table 1. Live births to mothers residing in the Basque Country. Comparative table
Source: Eustat. Birth statistics