Press Release 26/11/2018

BIRTH STATISTICS. II/2018

Births in the Basque Country fell by 9.7% in the second quarter of 2018

Babies born to unmarried mothers accounted for 43.1%

The number of births in the Basque Country in the second quarter of 2018 stood at 3,919, a figure 9.7% lower than that recorded in the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. There was a decrease in all three provinces, but to different degrees: there was a sharper drop in Álava (-15.4%) and Bizkaia (-10.8%) then in Gipuzkoa (-4.8%). In figures, 631 girls and boys were born in Álava, 1,970 in Bizkaia and 1,318 in Gipuzkoa.

During April, May and June 2018 births outside marriage accounted for 43.1% of the total, a lower percentage than the 44.5% recorded in the same quarter of 2017. Bizkaia, with 46.4%, was the only province with values higher than the Basque Country average; in Álava and in Gipuzkoa the percentages were lower, 40.7% and 39.3%, respectively.

According to the order of birth in the second quarter of 2018, almost half, 1,884, were first children; 1,558 girls and boys (39.8%) arrived in families that already had another son or daughter, and the percentage of third or subsequent children stood at 12.2%.

In 1 out of every 10 births the mothers were aged 40 or over

As regards the distribution of births according the age of the mother, the majority group was mothers between the ages of 30-34 (35.4%), almost on a par with the following 35-39 age group (35.3%), thus producing between them 70.7% of births. With percentages significantly lower than the previous groups was the 25-29 age group (13.0%) and the under-25s, with 6.1%, whereas the group of mothers aged 40 or over stood at 10.2%, 1.4 percentage points more than in the same quarter of the previous year.

The age of maternity for single mothers was lower than that for mothers as a whole, with 9.8% of single mothers being under the age of 25 and 15.7% between the ages of 25 and 29.

25.1% of mothers were foreign nationals

In 25.1% of births in the Basque Country during the spring months of 2018, the mother was a foreign national, whereas in the same period of 2017 this percentage was 20.9%. By province, in Álava this figure reached 32.3%, in Bizkaia 22.4% and in Gipuzkoa 25.5%.

For further information:

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