- Methods and Projects
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Standardised Methodological Report
Vital Statistics: Births
- 1Contact
- 1.1Contact organisation
National Statistics Institute of Spain
- 1.5Contact mail address
Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid
- 1.1Contact organisation
- 2Metadata update
- 2.1Metadata last certified
15/11/2023
- 2.2Metadata last posted
15/06/2022
- 2.3Metadata last update
15/11/2023
- 2.1Metadata last certified
- 3Statistical presentation
- 3.1Data description
The births statistic gathers information on the births occurring in Spain each year. The data are collected in a document known as the Statistical Birth Bulletin.
As of October 2015, the INE receives files from the Ministry of Justice with information on those births registered by their parents from the hospital thanks to the ANDES service. In those registrations that are made in person directly at the Civil Registry, the data is collected in a document called the Statistical Birth Bulletin. This document is completed by the parents, relatives or persons required by law to declare the birth or, failing that, by the person in charge of the civil registry. The civil registry in which the birth is registered, fills in the data related to the registration of each born.
The births statistic provides disaggregated information at both the national level and that of the autonomous communities, provinces, capitals and towns.
- 3.2Classification system
- Comunidades y Ciudades Autónomas
01 Andalucía
02 Aragón
03 Asturias, Principado de
04 Balears, Illes
05 Canarias
06 Cantabria
07 Castilla y León
08 Castilla - La Mancha
09 Cataluña
10 Comunitat Valenciana
11 Extremadura
12 Galicia
13 Madrid, Comunidad de
14 Murcia, Región de
15 Navarra, Comunidad Foral de
16 País Vasco
17 Rioja, La
18 Ceuta
19 Melilla - Provincias
02 Albacete
03 Alicante/Alacant
04 Almería
01 Araba/Álava
33 Asturias
05 Ávila
06 Badajoz
07 Balears, Illes
08 Barcelona
48 Bizkaia
09 Burgos
10 Cáceres
11 Cádiz
39 Cantabria
12 Castellón/Castelló
13 Ciudad Real
14 Córdoba
15 Coruña, A
16 Cuenca
20 Gipuzkoa
17 Girona
18 Granada
19 Guadalajara
21 Huelva
22 Huesca
23 Jaén
24 León
25 Lleida
27 Lugo
28 Madrid
29 Málaga
30 Murcia
31 Navarra
32 Ourense
34 Palencia
35 Palmas, Las
36 Pontevedra
26 Rioja, La
37 Salamanca
38 Santa Cruz de Tenerife
40 Segovia
41 Sevilla
42 Soria
43 Tarragona
44 Teruel
45 Toledo
46 Valencia/València
47 Valladolid
49 Zamora
50 Zaragoza
51 Ceuta
52 Melilla
- Comunidades y Ciudades Autónomas
- 3.3Sector coverage
It includes all childbirths that occur in Spain, regardless of whether they are resident or non-resident population
- 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
- Childbirth
The definition of childbirth used in these statistics coincides with the medical-biological concept, that is, the expulsion or extraction of a viable product of conception from its mother. Therefore, miscarriage or expulsion of the unviable foetus is excluded.
- Late foetal death
This is death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of viable conception. This viability is precisely what serves to differentiate between late foetal deaths and abortions. Currently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified the viability of the foetus with those born dead that weigh at least 500 grammes, and should this data not be available, with a gestational age of at least 22 weeks.
- Legal marital status
Legal marital status is defined as that which every individual has in accordance with marriage legislation (or marriage uses) of the country (in other words, the legal situation).
- Newborn
A foetus will only be classified as born if it has a human-like appearance and lives for twenty-four hours completely outside the mother's womb
- Order of birth
This refers to the number of live births that the mother has had throughout her life, including the delivery of the considered birth.
- Sex
Sex refers to the biological sex of the person. According to the WHO, "sex" refers to biological and physiological features defining to men and women, whereas "gender" refers to the roles, behaviour, activities and attributes constructed socially that a specific culture regards as appropriate for men and women. In accordance with this description, the WHO regards "man" and "woman" as sex categories, whereas "male" and "female" are gender categories.
- Usual residence
Place where a person normally spends rest periods, not taking into account temporary absences due to leisure trips, holidays, visits to family and friends, business, visiting friends or relatives or religious pilgrimages. Nevertheless, it is important to highlight that only usual residents in a region will be considered:
- Those who, according to the previous definition, would usually have lived therein for a continuous period of at least 12 months.
- Those who, according to the previous definition, would have established their usual residence therein less than 12 months ago, but with the intention of remaining therein for at least one year.
Where the above circumstances cannot be established, "usual residence" shall mean the place of registered residence.
- Childbirth
- 3.5Statistical unit
The basic statistical unit is the birth
- 3.6Statistical population
The population subject to statistical study is all mothers who have given birth in Spain
- 3.7Reference area
The statistic covers the whole of the national territory. Disaggregated data at the level of the Autonomous Community, provinces, capitals and municipalities
- 3.8Time coverage
The statistic is carried out annually There are results available from 1900 until 2022.
- 3.9Base period
1975
- 3.1Data description
- 4Unit of measure
- 4.1Unit of measure
The unit of measure is births occurring in the reference period
- 4.1Unit of measure
- 5Reference period
- 5.1Reference period
The data refer to the calendar year covered by the statistic, regardless of whether the data is published by month of occurrence of births
Data referred to the period: Anual A: 2023
- 5.1Reference period
- 6Institutional mandate
- 6.1Legal acts and other agreements
The compilation and dissemination of the data are governed by the Statistical Law No. 12/1989 "Public Statistical Function" of May 9, 1989, and Law No. 4/1990 of June 29 on “National Budget of State for the year 1990" amended by Law No. 13/1996 "Fiscal, administrative and social measures" of December 30, 1996, makes compulsory all statistics included in the National Statistics Plan. The National Statistical Plan 2009-2012 was approved by the Royal Decree 1663/2008. It contains the statistics that must be developed in the four year period by the State General Administration's services or any other entity dependent on it. All statistics included in the National Statistics Plan are statistics for state purposes and are obligatory. The National Statistics Plan 2021-2024, approved by Royal Decree 1110/2020, of 15 December, is the Plan currently implemented. This statistical operation has governmental purposes, and it is included in the National Statistics Plan 2021-2024. (Statistics of the State Administration).
Collaboration agreements with the Autonomous Communities for the preparation of Natural Population Movement statistics
- 6.2Data sharing
The exchanges of information needed to elaborate statistics between the INE and the rest of the State statistical offices (Ministerial Departments, independent bodies and administrative bodies depending on the State General Administration), or between these offices and the Autonomic statistical offices, are regulated in the LFEP (Law of the Public Statistic Function). This law also regulates the mechanisms of statistical coordination, and concludes cooperation agreements between the different offices when necessary.
This is performed in collaboration with the Autonomous Communities
- 6.1Legal acts and other agreements
- 7Confidentiality
- 7.1Confidentiality - policy
The Statistical Law No. 12/1989 specifies that the INE cannot publish, or make otherwise available, individual data or statistics that would enable the identification of data for any individual person or entity. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society
- 7.2Confidentiality - data treatment
INE provides information on the protection of confidentiality at all stages of the statistical process: INE questionnaires for the operations in the national statistical plan include a legal clause protecting data under statistical confidentiality. Notices prior to data collection announcing a statistical operation notify respondents that data are subject to statistical confidentiality at all stages. For data processing, INE employees have available the INE data protection handbook, which specifies the steps that should be taken at each stage of processing to ensure reporting units' individual data are protected. The microdata files provided to users are anonymised.
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- 7.1Confidentiality - policy
- 8Release policy
- 8.1Release calendar
The advance release calendar that shows the precise release dates for the coming year is disseminated in the last quarter of each year.
- 8.2Release calendar access
The calendar is disseminated on the INEs Internet website (Publications Calendar)
- 8.3User access
The data are released simultaneously according to the advance release calendar to all interested parties by issuing the press release. At the same time, the data are posted on the INE's Internet website (www.ine.es/en) almost immediately after the press release is issued. Also some predefined tailor-made requests are sent to registered users. Some users could receive partial information under embargo as it is publicly described in the European Statistics Code of Practice
- 8.1Release calendar
- 9Frequency of dissemination
- 9.1Frequency of dissemination
The definitive results corresponding to year t are published during the last quarter of year t+1, along with the micro-data files from which they are obtained.
The advanced results are disseminated on a monthly basis by means of the following statistical operations:
• Monthly births estimates
- 9.1Frequency of dissemination
- 10Accessibility and clarity
- 10.1News release
The results of the statistical operations are normally disseminated by using press releases that can be accessed via both the corresponding menu and the Press Releases Section in the web
- 10.2Publications
The results of this statistic are disseminated through the INE website and some of the results are reflected in publications such as the Statistical Yearbook, Cifras INE [INE Figures], Spain in Figures, etc.
- 10.3On-line database
INEbase is the system the INE uses to store statistical information on the Internet. It contains all the information the INE produces in electronic formats. The primary organisation of the information follows the theme-based classification of the Inventory of Statistical Operations of the State General Administration . The basic unit of INEbase is the statistical operation, defined as the set of activities that lead to obtaining statistical results on a determined sector or subject based on the individually collected data. Also included in the scope of this definition are synthesis preparation.
All information relating to this statistic (results, methodology, questionnaires, etc.) can be found at:
The definitive data contain detailed tables for the different variables collected in the Birth Bulletin. They can be found at:
The definitive data for birth rate and fertility indicators provide information at the national, autonomous community and province level with greater disaggregation of variables. They can be found at:
- 10.4Micro-data access
A lot of statistical operations disseminate public domain anonymized files, available free of charge for downloading in the INE website Microdata Section
Microdata files are available for births, deliveries and Late Fetal Deaths. You can access and download the microdata files of these statistics. These files are made anonymous for statistical confidentiality.
No information is provided on the following variables:
- First name, surname, identity document, domicile of the parents
- First name, surname, of the newborn
- Data on registration of the births in the civil registry
- Day variable on all dates
- Codes of municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants. The size of the municipality is provided
- Codes of countries with lower frequency than that established
- Causes of death of stillbirths or live births and deaths before the age of 24 hours of life
The information can be found at:
- 10.5Other
Interested users may request specific use of information through the INE Information Area, carried out while preserving the confidentiality of data and by signing the corresponding agreement or document.
See:
- 10.6Documentation on methodology
A detailed description can be found at:
https://www.ine.es/en/metodologia/t20/t2030301_en.pdf
https://www.ine.es/en/metodologia/t20/metodologia_idb_en.pdf
- 10.7Quality documentation
Sections 10.6 to 17 of this document are considered the user-oriented quality report for this operation
- 10.1News release
- 11Quality management
- 11.1Quality assurance
Quality assurance framework for the INE statistics is based on the ESSCoP, the European Statistics Code of Practice made by EUROSTAT. The ESSCoP is made up of 16 principles, gathered in three areas: Institutional Environment, Processes and Products. Each principle is associated with some indicators which make possible to measure it. In order to evaluate quality, EUROSTAT provides different tools: the indicators mentioned above, Self-assessment based on the DESAP model, peer review, user satisfaction surveys and other proceedings for evaluation.
The Statistical Birth Bulletin changed its format and content on 1 January 2007. In this new Bulletin the format was modified to adapt it to the recording techniques using optical character recognition (OCR). In addition, changes were made to its content. The objectives and modifications were the following:
1.- Adapt the collection of information to new Information and Communication technologies. To do this, optical character recognition (OCR) was implemented to record the information, and the new Bulletin was designed with the same purpose.
2.-. New questions were included concerning whether the delivery was by caesarean section, the education level of the parents, the identity card number (D.N.I., passport, N.I.E.) of the parents, place of birth of the parents and the previous child, the cohabitation situation of the mother, the nationality of the previous child and the children born in the current birth, performance of autopsy and if the baby died before or during birth for children stillborn or who live less than 24 hours, etc.
3.- The content and way of asking some questions was modified in order to make them easier to understand for respondents.4.- The codification of the variables was removed.
Likewise, exhaustive checks are carried out at all stages of the statistical process from the recording of information until its publication. Special emphasis is given to check that the values of the variables are valid, that there are no inconsistencies between the information we receive for each birth and that we receive all births that occurred in Spain in the reference period for the data
- 11.2Quality assessment
The compulsory nature of birth registration guarantees a good coverage of birth statistics. Likewise, the reliability of the information provided by the bulletins is very high thanks to the fact that the errors and lack of response that are detected in the variables of the bulletin are contrasted with the information that the Ministry of Justice provides us in the computerized civil registries.
- 11.1Quality assurance
- 12Relevance
- 12.1User needs
Information of births is used by other units of the INE, such as:
Inhabitants Register. Birth files serve as the basis for the City Councils to update their Municipal Register of Inhabitants by registering births
Health Statistics, for the development of the Death Statistic according to cause of death in the part referring to stillbirths and live births who die before the first 24 hours of life.
Demographic Indicators, for the development of the indicators of birth, fertility, etc.
Demographic projections, to calculate the figures of the future populationNational agencies
Based on the Resolution of 7 February 2005, of the Under-Secretariat, which provides for the publication of the management delegation of the Secretary of State for Justice to the National Statistics Institute concerning the transmission of computerised data relating to the registration of births, marriages and deaths made in the Civil Registers, the Secretary of State for Justice and the National Statistics Institute have signed, dated 13 October 2004, an agreement which entrusts the latter, on a transitional basis until the end of the
process of computerisation of all Civil Registers, the transmission of computerised data relating to the registration of births, marriages and deaths made in the Civil Registers. The National Statistics Institute, at the request of the Directorate General for Registers and Notaries, may facilitate the mass transmission
of data of public utility to public bodies that have an interest in them.International agencies
EUROSTAT and United Nations. The agreed information is referred at the meetings of the working groups of demographic statistics
Requests from universities, research groups in hospitals, companies and individuals
- 12.2User satisfaction
The INE has carried out general user satisfaction surveys in 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 and it plans to continue doing so every three years. The purpose of these surveys is to find out what users think about the quality of the information of the INE statistics and the extent to which their needs of information are covered. In addition, additional surveys are carried out in order to acknowledge better other fields such as dissemination of the information, quality of some publications...
On the INE website, in its section Methods and Projects / Quality and Code of Practice / INE quality management / User surveys are available surveys conducted to date.(Click next link)
- 12.3Completeness
The information they require is made available to users while respecting the confidentiality of the information. In the changes the content of the questionnaire made in 2007 took into account the additional information needs required by other agencies and institutions.
The information collected allows us to respond to all requests that are received
The completeness rate of the data is 100%
- 12.1User needs
- 13Accuracy and reliability
- 13.1Overall accuracy
The procedure for the collection, coverage control, filtration and imputation of non-response, allows for a high degree of reliability of the statistics.
- 13.2Sampling error
Not applicable as the data is obtained in a comprehensive manner from an administrative source (entries in the civil register)
- 13.3Non-sampling error
Delays in sending the information by some civil registers and lack of information in some variables of the bulletin. This means that this statistic has a lack of coverage of approximately 0.1 percent
An attempt is made to reduce the lack of coverage by obtaining the file information from the Ministry of Justice
- 13.1Overall accuracy
- 14Timeliness and punctuality
- 14.1Timeliness
The definitive data of the statistic are published at the end of the year following the reference year of the information, that is, within a period of 12 months.
TP1=12 months
- 14.2Punctuality
Data dissemination is carried out according to the structural statistics availability calendar that INE develops and publishes each year.
- 14.1Timeliness
- 15Coherence and Comparability
- 15.1Comparability - geographical
The processing of this statistic is the same for the entire territory in all phases. In this way, the results are fully comparable for any geographical disaggregation. Furthermore, they are comparable with the rest of the countries of the European Union as the Eurostat recommendations established for all countries and agreed upon at the meetings of the working group of Demographic Statistics are followed.
- 15.2Comparability - over time
The definition of birth, for the purposes of preparing the corresponding statistic, is different before and after 1975. Until this year, the concept of newborn corresponded with what is defined in the Civil Code, that is to say, for civil purposes only the foetus that has human form and lives for twenty-four hours after being completely removed from the mother shall be deemed to have been born (Article 30 of the Civil Code). Until 1975, birth and death statistics did not conform to internationally recognised population concepts, since these did not include children born alive that died before the age of twenty-four hours of life, which the Civil Code calls Miscarried babies (article 745).
From 1975 the concept of birth in the tables for presenting results of the N.P.M. is identified with the biological definition of live birth, which is used in the demographic field.This change caused a gap in the series of births from 1975 since before that year the birth figures did not include those born alive but who died before the first 24 hours of life and from 1975 they were included.
The length of the comparable data series is 47 years.
CC2=47 years
- 15.3Coherence - cross domain
Birth data are consistent both with the inhabitants register figures and with the future population forecasts
- 15.4Coherence - internal
The consistency between the variables is contrasted in all phases of the statistical process
- 15.1Comparability - geographical
- 16Cost and burden
- 16.1Cost and burden
As it is a statistic based on an administrative register, there is no burden on respondents
The estimate of the necessary budgetary appropriation to finance the Natural Population Movement (formed by the Deaths Statistic, the Births Statistic and the Marriage Statistic) under the 2022 annual Programme is 4,190.95 thousands of euros.
- 16.1Cost and burden
- 17Data revision
- 17.1Data revision - policy
The INE of Spain has a policy which regulates the basic aspects of statistical data revision, seeking to ensure process transparency and product quality. This policy is laid out in the document approved by the INE board of directors on 13 March of 2015, which is available on the INE website, in the section "Methods and projects/Quality and Code of Practice/INE’s Quality management/INE’s Revision policy" (link).
This general policy sets the criteria that the different type of revisions should follow: routine revision- it is the case of statistics whose production process includes regular revisions-; more extensive revision- when methodological or basic reference source changes take place-; and exceptional revision- for instance, when an error appears in a published statistic-.
The definitive data are not revised. They are only revised if there is a publication error
- 17.2Data revision - practice
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- 17.1Data revision - policy
- 18Statistical processing
- 18.1Source data
The information from the Birth Statistics derives from the administrative act of entry into the civil registry. The data is collected from several sources:
• As regards registrations that are carried out in person at the civil registry, the data is collected in a paper document called the Statistics Birth Bulletin (BEP,
per its Spanish initials). This document is filled out by the parents, relatives or by those persons legally bound to declare the birth or, failing that, by the civil
registrar. The BEP is available at Civil Registries as well as at the main maternity services of hospital centres.• As regards electronic registrations of births at the health centres, they are done by means of the ANDES service. The information is obtained from the files
provided by the Ministry of Justice• In those cases when the birth information could not be obtained from the two aforementioned sources, the data is obtained from the information provided by
the Ministry of Justice thanks to the recording of the birth entry in the computerised civil registers. In such cases, information on the delivery characteristics or the newborn baby’s weight is not available.
The electronic registration of births from health centres started in October 2015 due to the partial entry into force of Law 20/2011. This application, called ANDES,
collects information relating exclusively to the registration of live births, delivery and newborn characteristics, but does not include data on the mother's previous
child or cohabitation status.The only tool used for the collection of information on Late Foetal Deaths is the Statistical Birth Bulletin.
As of 2011, live births that pass away within the first 24 hours have both a birth and a death record, so the main source of information used is the Medical
Certificate of Death and each register is complemented by the corresponding Statistical Birth Bulletin. - 18.2Frequency of data collection
Data collection is carried out monthly
- 18.3Data collection
The information is collected monthly either through the information in the files provided by the Ministry of Justice to the INE with the information collected in those inscriptions that are made from the hospital granted to the ANDES service or through the Birth Statistics Bulletin.
The Statistical Birth Bulletin is completed by persons required by law to make entries in the civil register or, failing that, by the civil registrar. Once completed, the parents of the newborn take the bulletin to the civil register office of the municipality where the birth has occurred or where the mother or father resides for the registration of the child/children born. The civil registry sends the bulletins completed in a month to the INE monthly. The INE receives the documentation from the civil register which is recorded using optical character recognition and the fields are validated. This information is transmitted directly to the INE’s database.
- 18.4Data validation
In the initial phase of the statistic, recording using optical character recognition, the application includes the detection of certain errors in the bulletin information as well as the control of coverage and the detection of duplicate information. Such errors have to be corrected in this first phase in order to include their information in the birth database. The aim is to obtain high quality levels that make the process of filtering and imputation of the treatment phases subsequently carried out faster and less expensive.
- 18.5Data compilation
The recorded data is filtered at the national level in order to detect inconsistencies, duplicates, lack of information, etc. Following this process an automatic imputation phase is applied for variables with missing or inconsistent information. Once this phase has been completed, the statistic's microdata files used to make the tables of publication of births and corresponding indicators of birth, fertility, etc. are obtained. In addition, the anonymised microdata files made available to users on the web are obtained.
- 18.6Adjustment
As the data for this statistic comes from an administrative register, no adjustments are made
- 18.1Source data
- 19Comment
- 19.1Comment
- 19.1Comment
Contact