Press Release 18/02/2019

BIRTH STATISTICS. III/2018

Births were down 3.8% in the third quarter of 2018 in the Basque Country

Births outside marriage accounted for 44.5% of the total

In the third quarter of 2018 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 4,261, which was a drop of 3.8% compared to the same quarter of the previous year, according to Eustat data. The province that experienced the biggest decrease was Álava, where 709 boys and girls were born, down 7.8% on the same quarter of the previous year. In Bizkaia, with 2,112 births, there was a decrease of 4.3% and finally, in Gipuzkoa, with 1,440 births, there was a drop of 0.9%.

Births outside of marriage accounted for 44.5% of the total, which was higher than the 42% for the same period of the previous year.

According to the order of birth, 2,192 boys and girls (51.4%) were first children, in the summer months of 2018; 1,558 (36.6%) arrived in families that already had another son or daughter and 12.0% were third or subsequent children.

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

Regarding the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, the 30-34 year-old age group continued to be in the majority, producing 36.7% of births. They were immediately followed by the 35-39 age group, with 33.0%. The 25-29 age group accounted for 13.3% of births, and the under-25s stood at 6.4%. It is worth noting that those aged 40 or over accounted for 10.5% of births.

The average age of mothers stood at 33.4, which was similar to the same quarter of the previous year: for married mothers it stood at 33.7; for single mothers it was 32.8, and for divorcees it was 36.7 in this quarter.

Foreign mothers represented a quarter of the total

Of the women who became mothers in the Basque Country in July, August and September 2018, 25.8% were foreign nationals, a percentage which is higher than the 22.9% recorded for the same period of the previous year. This percentage was only higher in Álava, where it stood at 32.9%, 10 points more than in the Basque Country as a whole. In Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia, the proportion of mothers with foreign nationality stood at 24.5% and 24.3% 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 34.3 for mothers with Spanish nationality.

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