Birth Statistics. 2025. Provisional data
In 2025, 28,019 boys and 26,230 girls were born in Catalonia, a total of 54,249 live births, representing an annual increase of 0.8%, according to provisional data. The number of births recovered slightly, breaking the downward trend observed since 2008.
The short-term fertility indicator stood at 1.08 children per woman (1.09 children in 2024, according to final data) and continued the downward trend that began after the highest value since 1986 (1.53 children per woman) was recorded in 2008. The average age at maternity was 32.8 years and the average age at the birth of the first child was 31.8 years, both higher than those of the previous year (32.6 and 31.5 years, respectively).
By areas of the Territorial Plan, El Penedès Area recorded the largest percentage increase in births, with an increase of 2.4%, followed by the Ponent Area (1.8%) and the Metropolitan Area (1.7%). Conversely, the number of births decreased in Les Terres de l’Ebre Area −6.6%), the Central Counties Area (−5.0%), L’Alt Pirineu i Aran Area (−2.0%) and El Camp de Tarragona Area (−0.9%).
As for the counties, the number of births increased in 19 counties and decreased in 23 counties and Aran. The largest increases in absolute terms were recorded in El Baix Llobregat (221) and El Vallès Occidental (201). On the other hand, the most notable decreases occurred in Osona (−95) and El Gironès (−80).
By size of the municipalities, births increased in municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants and in those with more than 50,000 inhabitants. Particularly notable was the 11.7% growth recorded in municipalities with between 50,001 and 100,000 inhabitants.
Regarding the place of birth of mothers, 48.5% of newborns in 2025 had mothers born in Catalonia, 46.3% had mothers born abroad and 5.2% had mothers born in the rest of Spain. There are 8 counties where babies born to women born abroad accounted for half or more of the total number of births: La Segarra (61.1%), La Garrotxa (58.2%), El Barcelonès (56.3%), L’Urgell (54.7%), L’Alt Empordà (53.6%), El Baix Empordà (51.9%), El Solsonès (51.6%) and Les Garrigues (50.0%). As for municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, the highest percentages were those of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (69.5%), Santa Coloma de Gramenet (65.8%) and Manresa (60.3%).
By nationality of mothers, newborns to mothers of Spanish nationality account for 65.3% (35,406) of the total number of births, while those born to mothers of foreign nationality account for 34.7% (18,843). These values represent an annual increase of 2.0% in the case of mothers of Spanish nationality and a decrease of 1.2% in the case of mothers of foreign nationality. Among newborns to mothers of foreign nationality, the largest group corresponded to children of mothers of Moroccan nationality, followed by children born to mothers of Colombian, Pakistani, Honduran and Peruvian nationality.
By areas of the Territorial Plan, 42.1% of live births in the Ponent Area and 39.7% of those born in the Girona Counties Area were children born to foreign mothers, with percentages well above the Catalan average (34.7%). The area that showed the lowest percentage of children born to foreign mothers was El Penedès Area (31.6%). By counties, the highest percentages of babies born to foreign-born mothers are observed in La Segarra (55.1%) and L’Urgell (46.3%), while the lowest percentages are recorded in El Lluçanès (10%) and El Moianès (15.7%).
The combined analysis of the mother’s nationality and place of birth shows that practically all mothers of foreign nationality were born abroad; on the other hand, among mothers of Spanish nationality, 18.1% were born abroad.
The crude birth rate remained at 6.7 live births per 1,000 inhabitants, the same as in 2024. By areas of the Territorial Plan, the highest crude birth rate was 7.3 births per 1,000 inhabitants in the Ponent Area, while the lowest, below the average for Catalonia (6.7‰), were recorded in the Central Counties Area and El Penedès Area (both 6.5‰), Les Terres de l’Ebre Area (6.0‰) and L’Alt Pirineu i Aran Area (5.6‰).+++