Press Release 20/05/2019

BIRTH STATISTICS. IV/2018

Births in the Basque Country fell by 6% in the fourth quarter of 2018

The variation in the number of births in 2018 was also negative, decreasing by 5.8%

In the fourth quarter of 2018 the number of births in the Basque Country stood at 3,995, 6% down on the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data.

26.6% of women who gave birth in the Basque Country in the autumn of 2018 were of foreign nationality. Álava saw a larger percentage, standing at 31.4%, followed by Gipuzkoa with 26.5%, whereas in Bizkaia 25.1% of mothers were not Spanish nationals.

All provinces saw a year-on-year decrease in the number of registered births: Álava, with 659 boys and girls, experienced the steepest fall (-10.1%); Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, with 1,954 and 1,382 births, respectively, posted downturns of 8.2% and 0.3%, all in comparison to the same quarter of 2017.

More than 80% of mothers were over 30 years of age

As regards the distribution of births according to the age of the mother, there was an increase in the percentage of mothers aged 35-39, which thus became the predominant group this quarter (35.6%), followed by the 30-34 year-old age group, who produced 34.4% of births. The 25-29 age group accounted for 12.5%. The number of mothers above the age of 40 (11.3%) exceeded those under 25 (6.2%).

The age of maternity also varied according to nationality. In fact, the average age of foreign mothers was 31.2, compared to 34.4 for mothers with Spanish nationality.

The number of births from unmarried mothers was 45.4%

Births outside marriage in the fourth quarter of 2018 accounted for 45.4% of the total, up nearly 0.7 percentage points on the number registered for the same period in 2017.

According to the order of birth, over half (51.3%) of births, or 2,050, were first-borns; 1,484 (37.1%) were born into families that already had a child, and the number of third and subsequent children stood at 461 (11.5%).

Of the total number of births in the fourth quarter of 2018, 1,389 took place in October, 1,303 in November and 1,303 in December.

BALANCE FOR 2018

For 2018 as a whole, the provisional birth rate reached 16,090, which is equivalent to a decrease of 986 (-5.8%) compared to data from 2017. This decrease occurred in all three provinces; however it was especially notable in Álava, with 279 fewer births, equivalent to -9.4%. In Bizkaia, the decrease was 6.8% (581 fewer births) and in Gipuzkoa it was 2.3% (126 fewer births).

For further information:

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