Marrakech – Moroccan women accounted for the largest share of foreign-born mothers in Spain’s Basque Country in 2025, delivering 692 babies out of 3,569 born to non-Spanish nationals across the region.
The figures, published by Eustat, the Basque statistical office, show that Morocco outpaced Colombia (454), Algeria (230), Pakistan (208), Nicaragua (196), Paraguay (189), Romania (182), Peru (142), and Venezuela (111) among foreign maternal nationalities.
The Basque figures are emblematic of a far more consequential demographic reality nationwide. Moroccans constitute Spain’s largest foreign community, with nearly 969,000 holding Moroccan nationality and over 1.16 million born in Morocco residing in the country as of January 2025, according to the country’s National Statistics Institute (INE).
The Moroccan population in Spain grew by over 48,000 during 2024 alone, entrenching its demographic preeminence across the country’s autonomous regions.
In Euskadi specifically, the Moroccan community has long ranked among the most established foreign populations. Foreign mothers overall represented 26.7% of all women who gave birth in the region last year. More than a third of all mothers – 35.6% – were born outside Spain.
The 2025 birth data signal a long-awaited demographic reversal for the Basque Country. A total of 13,344 babies were born, a 3.1% increase over the previous year and the first rise since 2014. The uptick held across all three Basque provinces: Bizkaia recorded 6,627 births, Gipuzkoa 4,554, and Álava 2,163.
Foreign mothers tended to be considerably younger than their Spanish counterparts. Some 42.5% of non-Spanish mothers gave birth before the age of 30, compared to just 13.3% of Spanish nationals. The average age for foreign first-time mothers stood at 28.7 years, nearly five years below the 33.5-year average for Spanish women.
Across all nationalities, the mean maternal age was 33.4 years – one of the highest in Europe. The largest age bracket was 35 to 39, accounting for 34% of all births. Another 11.2% of babies were born to mothers aged 40 or older.
Just over half of all births – 50.4% – occurred outside of marriage, up from 41.6% a decade ago. First-born children accounted for 51% of the total. Public hospitals handled 94% of deliveries, with private facilities at 5.3% and home births at just 0.7%.
The region also recorded 203 twin deliveries, three sets of triplets, and 709 premature births.
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