The average age of first-time motherhood, by contrast, is the highest in Europe (31.9 in 2019)
2,801 children[1] were born to mothers under the age of 30 in the Basque Country in 2019. This represented 18.2% of all births in the Basque Country to mothers of all ages.
The number of children born in the Basque Country to mothers under the age of 30 fell sharply between 2011 and 2018 but increased slightly in 2019.
This increase in 2019 is mainly due to the fact that the number of births to young foreign mothers has increased, while the trend has continued to fall among mothers with Spanish nationality. More specifically, more than half of all births in 2019 corresponded to young foreign mothers (58.3%).
If we compare the data on births with those recorded in Europe in 2018 (the latest data available), we find that the percentage of children born to mothers under the age of 30 in the Basque Country is not only the lowest in Europe, it is also markedly different to the European average (41.1%).
This low figure is not surprising considering that the average age of first-time motherhood in the Basque Country in 2019 was close to 32 years of age (31.9 to be more precise), the highest in Spain along with Galicia and Madrid (both of which also have an average of 31.9 years of age).
This figure is also the highest in Europe, according to data from 2018 (the latest available data). The European average of first-time motherhood for that year stood at 29.2.
[1] These are live-born children.
