Recent official statistical data released by the statistical institute in the Basque Country (Eustat) revealed that 2025 recorded an increase in the number of births after more than a decade of decline. The total number of births reached 13,344 children, reflecting a rise of 3.1% compared to the previous year, with an increase of 407 births.
According to the same data, this is the first increase in the number of births since 2014, as the rise included all three provinces in the region: Álava, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa, with varying percentages but all showing positive growth.
What stands out in these statistics, published by the “Efe” agency on June 5 of this year, is the continued strong presence of foreign mothers in the births of the region, accounting for 26.7% of the total mothers, a stable percentage compared to 2024.
Morocco Leading Among Foreign Mothers
The data highlighted that Morocco tops the list of foreign countries in terms of the number of mothers who gave birth in the Basque Country during 2025, with 692 Moroccan mothers, ahead of countries like Colombia (454), Algeria (230), Pakistan (208), Nicaragua (196), Paraguay (189), Romania (182), Peru (142), and Venezuela (111).
This means that Moroccan women constitute the largest group of foreign mothers in the region, an indicator of the continued demographic presence of the Moroccan community in northern Spain.
The same data indicates a clear difference in the age of motherhood between Spanish and foreign women, as 42.5% of foreign mothers give birth before the age of 30, compared to only 13.3% among Spanish women.
The overall average age of mothers is 33.4 years, while it decreases to 30.9 years for foreign mothers and increases to 34.3 years for Spanish mothers.
According to the census, more than half of the births occurred outside of marriage, accounting for 50.4%, and 51% of the births are the first children of the mothers, while hospital births recorded the largest percentage at around 94%.
