After ten years of continuous declines in birth rates, Spain has recorded an increase in the number of births in 2024 compared to the previous year. According to provisional figures published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 322,034 babies were born last year, representing an increase of 0.43%.
Although this increase is encouraging, birth figures are still worrying. In 2024, almost 100,000 fewer children were born than in 2014, a difference of 24.7%. In addition, 439,146 people died, 0.7% more than in 2023. This means that there are 114,937 more deaths than births, marking the eighth consecutive year with a negative population balance.
The INE report also highlights that it is becoming increasingly common for women to delay childbearing, which is reflected in an increase in the number of babies born to mothers aged 40 or older. In the last ten years, this figure has grown by 8.5%.
While in 2014 only 7.2% of births were to mothers aged 40 or older, in 2024 that percentage rose to 10.4%. The change in this trend was evident last year, as there were more births to mothers aged 40 to 44 than to mothers aged 20 to 24. Even so, the majority of births are still concentrated among women aged 30 to 39.
Births by autonomous community
Andalusia remains the autonomous community with the highest number of births. In August 2024, 5,404 babies were born, one in five children in Spain, representing 19% of the total.
In second position is Catalonia with 4,659 births, followed by the Community of Madrid, which ranks third with 4,623 births. The Community of Valencia is in fourth position with 3,091 babies registered last year.
A change in trend?
The scientific researcher at the Institute of Economics, Geography and Demography of the CSIC, Héctor Cebolla, considers the data for 2024 to be a “potential statistical accident.” This may be due to an upturn resulting from migration from countries with higher fertility rates, which initially have more children, but soon converge with local trends.
He also believes that we cannot speak of a change in the demographic trend, “because no country in the world is reversing the decline in birth rates and Spain does not have the social engineering to do so.”
