Birth Statistics. 2022. Provisional data
In 2022, there were 56,316 live births in Catalonia, according to provisional data, a figure that represents a decrease of 2.3% in relation to the definitive birth data for 2021.
By territorial area, the number of births in 2022 decreased in 5 of the 8 areas of the Territorial Plan. El Penedès recorded the greatest decrease in percentage terms (−5.2%), followed by El Camp de Tarragona (−3.2%), Girona Counties (−2.8%), the Metropolitan Area (−2.4%) and L’Alt Pirineu i Aran (−1.9%). The number of births increased in the Central Counties area (1.0%), Les Terres de l’Ebre (0.8%) and Ponent (0.5%).
As for the counties, the number of births decreased in 27 counties in 2022, with the largest decreases recorded in La Conca de Barberà (−16.7%), L’Alta Ribagorça (−15.0%) and El Berguedà (−12.1%). In contrast, L’Urgell (18.3%) is the county that recorded the highest increase in the number of births in percentage terms, followed by El Moianès (10.8%) and Aran (9.8%).
By size of municipality, in 2022 births fell in all brackets compared to the previous year, but especially in municipalities with less than 500 inhabitants (−12.2%).
The crude birth rate was 7.2 live births per 1,000 inhabitants in 2022. On the other hand, the short-term fertility rate stood at 1.17 children per woman (1.21 children in 2021). The age of mothers at the birth of their children was 32.6 years, and the average age at the birth of the first child was 31.6 years.
La Segarra (9.2 live births per 1,000 inhabitants) and El Gironès (9.0‰) were the counties with the highest birth rate, while the lowest was recorded in L’Alta Ribagorça (4.3‰) and El Pallars Jussà (5.1‰).
As for the nationality of the mothers, 37,903 of the live births in 2022 were born to Spanish mothers (a figure that represents a decrease of 3.9% with respect to 2021), and 18,413 were born to mothers of foreign nationality (an increase of 1.1%). In relative terms, babies born to foreign mothers accounted for 32.7% of live births.
The fertility rate of foreign women was higher than that of women of Spanish nationality resident in Catalonia, and the number of children per woman was 1.39 and 1.12, respectively. The median age at childbearing for women of Spanish nationality was 33.2 years and for women of foreign nationality was 30.8 years, which means that foreign women who had children in 2022 are on average 2.4 years younger than Spanish women.