Spain’s birth rate has continued its steady decline, with February 2025 marking a new low in the country’s ongoing demographic crisis.
According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 24,136 babies were born in Spain during the month, a 2.83 percent decrease compared to the same period in 2024, when 25,557 births were recorded.
This drop is part of a long-term downward trend that has been evident for over a decade. In 2015, Spain registered 31,335 births in February, meaning that the country now sees more than 7,000 fewer births in the same month, a reduction of 23 percent over 10 years.
In recent years, the number of births during February has remained relatively stable, though consistently low: 26,946 births were recorded in 2020, followed by 24,413 in 2021, 24,946 in 2022, and 24,435 in 2023.
January and February have seen a combined total of 51,306 births, the lowest number for this period since 2016, when 66,583 children were born.
The latest figures also reveal that births have declined across nearly all maternal age groups compared to February of last year. The only exceptions are women aged between 45 and 49, whose birth numbers rose negligibly from 266 to 267, and those aged 50 and older, where births increased from 26 to 27.
Andalusia, Catalonia, and Madrid registered the highest number of births during January and February, with 14,654, 13,458, and 12,510, respectively. On the contrary, the exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla recorded the fewest, with just 188 and 211 births.
Only a few regions showed increases in birth numbers over the past year, including the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Extremadura, with growth rates of 3.36 percent, 15.58 percent, and 3.34 percent, respectively.
Several communities, however, experienced sharp declines. Cantabria saw the most significant drop, with births falling by 12.14 percent, followed by Castilla y León with a 7.67 percent decrease, the Balearic Islands with a 7.39 percent reduction, Murcia at minus 7.18 percent, and Aragón with a 4.19 percent drop.
These regional differences reflect a broader national pattern of demographic contraction, raising concerns about long-term population sustainability in many parts of the country.
In the first three months of 2025, the number of deaths registered in Spain increased slightly from the same period last year, by 121,800 to 122,852.
