Press Release 10/19/2015

BIRTH STATISTICS 2014

Births in the Basque Country rose by 1.4% in 2014

The birth rate stood at 8.9 births per thousand inhabitants

In 2014 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 19,378, up 1.4% on the previous year, according to Eustat data. Among foreign mothers the increase was 4.8% and among Spanish mothers it was 0.6%.

Regarding the distribution by province, Álava saw the greatest increase (5.7%), followed by Gipuzkoa (1.2%) and Bizkaia (0.1%), such that the number of births stood at 3,277, 6,361 and 9,740, respectively.

The birth rate was 8.9 births per thousand inhabitants, below the levels recorded in the mid-70s. The highest rate was in Álava (10.3‰), followed by Gipuzkoa (9‰) and Bizkaia (8.5‰).



In 80.5% of births the mothers were aged 30 or over

The largest group was women between 30 and 34 years old, who accounted for 38.3% of total births, even though the rate had fallen by slightly more than half a percentage point with respect to 2013. On the other hand, births continued to rise among mothers aged 35 to 39 (34.5%) and over 40 (7.8%). The number of babies to mothers aged 25 to 29 (13.6%) and 20 to 24 (4.6%) also increased, contrary to the trends over the last 5 years. Finally, teenage mothers made up 1.3% of the total and also saw a slight rise.

18.3% of mothers were foreign nationals

Regarding nationality, 18.3% of new mothers were foreign nationals, who gave birth to 3,551 girls and boys. The most common countries were: Morocco with 594 mothers, Romania (348), Colombia (247), Bolivia (243), Algeria (169), Ecuador (158) and Nigeria (151).

Foreign mothers had children at a younger age than those of Spanish nationality resident in the Basque Country: in 43.7% of cases they were under 30 years of age, compared to 14% of mothers of Spanish nationality.

The average age of mothers was 33.2 years. This average was higher, at 33.9 years, for Spanish mothers, and 30.3 years for mothers of foreign nationality.

The average age for first-time mothers – those who had their first child in 2014 – was 32.3.

In 10 years the number of births outside marriage has doubled

In 2014, births outside marriage rose to 7,732, an increase of 6.6% with respect to 2013. These births represent 39.9% of the total. Bizkaia was the only province with a percentage higher than the Basque Country average, with 41.2%, whereas Álava and Gipuzkoa had lower relative values (39.7% and 38%, respectively). If we compare the current percentage with that registered in 2004 (22%), we see that over the last 10 years the proportion of births outside marriage has almost doubled.

Regarding the order of birth, the 10,334 first-born children in 2014 made up 53.3% of the total; second-borns, 37.5%; and third-borns and subsequent children, 9.2% of the total.

The number of births rose to 18,908, of which 18,385 were single, 510 double and 13 triple. Out of all births, 1,091 were premature (5.8%).

The sex ratio among live births in 2014 was 104 boys to every 100 girls. The average weights were 3,321.3 grams for boys and 3,191.7 grams for girls.

For further information:

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