Press Release 24/09/2018

BIRTH STATISTICS. I/2018

Births were down 4.8% in the first quarter of 2018 in the Basque Country

45.7% of mothers were aged 35 or over and 44.2% of births were outside marriage

In the first quarter of 2018 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 3,867, which was a drop of 4.8% 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 they were down by 5.8%, in Álava, 4.9% and in Bizkaia, 4%. Specifically, in Gipuzkoa 1,290 girls and boys were born, 678 were born in Álava and 1,899 in Bizkaia.

In the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, it is particularly noteworthy that the group of mothers aged 35-39 moved into first position, producing 35.5% of births. They are closely followed by the group of mothers aged 30-34, with 35.3%, and subsequently by the 25-29 age group, although the contribution of this latter group is lower, 13.3%.

With regards to the same quarter of 2017, the number of women who became mothers aged 40 or over decreased, going from 424 in 2017 to 395 in 2018. The births from these women made up 10.2% of the total, exceeding the 5.7% of births by mothers younger than 25.

Births outside marriage accounted for 44.2% of the total, a figure similar to that for the first quarter of 2017. Bizkaia, with 46.7%, was the only province to post higher figures than the Basque Country as a whole, whereas Álava posted 42.3% and Gipuzkoa 41.6%. The maternity age of this group was below that of the overall group of women who had children, given that 9% of them were under the age of 25.

According to the order of birth, in the first quarter of 2018 almost half of the births, 1,905 children, were first-born; 1,502 (38.8%) arrived in families that already had another son or daughter, and the percentage of third or subsequent children stood at 11.9%.

23.8% of mothers were foreign nationals

In 23.8% of births in the Basque Country during the first three months of 2018, the mother was a foreign national. This figure was higher in Álava where it stood at 29.9%, against 22% in Bizkaia and 23.3% in Gipuzkoa. There was also a growth in the number of foreign mothers of almost 0.8 percentage points with respect to the previous year.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62