In the first quarter of this year, 79,465 babies were born in Spain, which is 1,383 more than in the same period of 2023 but almost a quarter less than those born ten years ago (103,605 between January and March 2014).
The monthly estimate of births published today by the INE reveals that 26,540 boys and girls were born in March, which represents an average of 856 per day, while in March 2014 the average was 1,164 births per day.
And although the birth rate is showing signs of a slight recovery in recent months after the collapse in the number of births derived from the covid pandemic, statistics indicate that Spain does not exceed 30,000 births in a month since October 2021.
The INE data also confirms the increase in late motherhood. Last March, 34 babies were born to mothers over 50 years old, the highest monthly number since records exist. And between January and March, 85 were counted, 35 more than a year before and triple the number registered in that same period a decade ago (27).
But it is not the only indicator that in Spain women are increasingly postponing the moment of becoming a mother. Since December 2020, more children have been born in Spain to women over 40 years of age than to women under 25 (2,971 compared to 2,458 last March). In fact, births to mothers over 40 have grown by 14% in ten years and now represent 11% of the total, when in 2014 they represented 7%.
In any case, the birth rate is not evolving equally throughout the Spanish territory. Andalusia, Catalonia and Madrid are the three autonomies where the most births have been registered in the first three months of 2024. However, it is in Cantabria, Navarra, the Balearic Islands, Castilla y León where they have grown the most in the last year. Now, in all communities, many fewer children are born now than ten years ago. In Andalusia, from the 19,806 babies born in the first quarter of 2014, this number has increased to 14,884 this year; in Catalonia, from 17,602 to 13,663, and in Madrid, from 15,629 to 12,794, for example.
But even within the same autonomous community, the number of births evolves very differently from one province to another, as can be seen in the graph that accompanies these lines.
Last March, where the birth rate grew the most was in Huesca and Teruel, where it did so by over 14%, while in Zaragoza it fell by more than 3%.
