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Press Release 27/02/2017

BIRTH STATISTICS. III/2016

Births dropped 2.3% in the third quarter of 2016

Births outside marriage accounted for 43% of the total

In the third quarter of 2016 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 4,746, which was a drop of 2.3% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eustat data. The province that experienced the biggest decrease was Álava, where 795 boys and girls were born, down 4.7% on the same quarter of the previous year, and in Bizkaia, with 2,320 births, there was a decrease of 3.5%. Gipuzkoa, on the other hand, experienced a 0.7% rise, with 1,631 births.

8 out of every 10 mothers were over the age of 30

Regarding the distribution of births according the age of the mother, there continued to be a preponderance of the 30-34 year-old age group, in which 36.6% of the births took place. This group was followed by the group immediately above it, mothers aged 35-39 which, with 35.3%, accounted for over two and a half times the number of births of the 25-29 age group, which accounted for 12.9% of births. Amongst the groups at the two extremes, those under the age of 25 accounted for 5.9% of births, whilst those over 39 accounted for 9.3%.

Births outside of marriage accounted for 43.1% of the total, which was higher than the 41.4% for the same period of the previous year. The average age of mothers stood at 33.4: for married mothers it stood at 33.9; for single mothers it was 32.5, and for divorcees it was 35.7 in this quarter.

Foreign mothers are 3.3 years younger than those with Spanish nationality

Of the women who became mothers in the Basque Country in July, August and September 2016, 21.7% were foreign nationals. This percentage was only higher in Álava, where it stood at 28.4%, whereas in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia the proportion of mothers with foreign nationality stood at 20.6% and 20.1%, respectively.

The age at which women became mothers varied according to their nationality. In fact, the average age of foreign mothers was 30.8, compared to 34.1 for mothers with Spanish nationality.

According to the order of birth, more than half (2,454 boys and girls) were first children in the summer months of 2016; 1,786 (37.6%) arrived in families that already had another son or daughter and 10.7% were third or subsequent children.

The number of first-time mothers was down 5.6%, but for women who had their second child there was an increase of 0.8%, and for women who had their third or subsequent child the increase was 3.5%, all with respect to the same quarter of 2015.

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