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Monthly Estimates of Births

• 1Contact
  • 1.1Contact organisation
    National Statistics Institute of Spain
    
  • 1.5Contact mail address

    Avenida de Manoteras 50-52 - 28050 Madrid

    
    
• 2Metadata update
  • 2.1Metadata last certified
    28/02/2024
  • 2.2Metadata last posted
    22/11/2023
  • 2.3Metadata last update
    28/02/2024
• 3Statistical presentation
  • 3.1Data description

    The EMN offers rapid estimates on the number of births occuring each month using the entries registered in the computerized Civil Registries.

    These statistics offer information that is disaggregated by autonomous community and province.

  • 3.2Classification system
    • Clasificaciones utilizadas

      Comunidades Autonomas:

      01 Andalucia
      02 Aragon
      03 Asturias, Principado de
      04 Balears, Illes
      05 Canarias
      06 Cantabria
      07 Castilla y Leon
      08 Castilla - La Mancha
      09 Cataluña
      10 Comunitat Valenciana
      11 Extremadura
      12 Galicia
      13 Madrid, Comunidad de
      14 Murcia, Region de
      15 Navarra, Comunidad Foral de
      16 Pais Vasco
      17 Rioja, La
      18 Ceuta
      19 Melilla

      Provincias:

      02 Albacete
      03 Alicante/Alacant
      04 Almeria
      01 Araba/Álava
      33 Asturias
      05 Ávila
      06 Badajoz
      07 Balears, Illes
      08 Barcelona
      48 Bizkaia
      09 Burgos
      10 Caceres
      11 Cadiz
      39 Cantabria
      12 Castellon/Castello
      13 Ciudad Real
      14 Cordoba
      15 Coruña, A
      16 Cuenca
      20 Gipuzkoa
      17 Girona
      18 Granada
      19 Guadalajara
      21 Huelva
      22 Huesca
      23 Jaen
      24 Leon
      25 Lleida
      27 Lugo
      28 Madrid
      29 Malaga
      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

  • 3.3Sector coverage

    It collects births occuring in Spain, regardless of whether the population is resident or non-resident

  • 3.4Statistical concepts and definitions
    • Age
      Age in years refers to the number of birthdays reached by the reference date, in other words, the age last birthday.
    • 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
  • 3.5Statistical unit

    The basic statistical unit is birth.

  • 3.6Statistical population

    The population under study are births in Spain.

  • 3.7Reference area

    The statistics cover the whole of the national territory. Disaggregated data at the Autonomous Community and province level is published.

  • 3.8Time coverage

    Monthly Statistics of Births disseminate data from January 2013, although it has been ruled and included in the Inventory of statistical operations in 2022. However, there are birth results published in the Birth Statistics included in Natural Movement of the Population since 1900 on an annual basis.

     

  • 3.9Base period

    Year 1975

• 4Unit of measure
  • 4.1Unit of measure

    The data is published:

    • In absolute numbers (number of births).
    • Accumulated thus far this year.
    • Absolute and percentage interannual variation of the accumulate.
• 5Reference period
  • 5.1Reference period

    Data referring to the period: Monthly Y: 2023 MONTH: 01

• 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).

    
    
  • 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.
    

    There are no planned exchanges of information with other statistics producing organizations.

• 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.
    
• 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

    
    
• 9Frequency of dissemination
  • 9.1Frequency of dissemination

    The frequency of dissemination is monthly.

• 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 these statistics are disseminated through the INE website, and certain results are collected in publications such as INE 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.

    
    
  • 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
    

    You can access the anonymized microdata of the Birth Statistics up to the last year published. Microdata for estimated data are not available.

  • 10.5Other

    Through the INE User Service Area, interested users can request specific exploitation of information, while preserving the confidentiality of the data and signing the corresponding agreement or document.

    Watch:

    https://www.ine.es/ss/Satellite?L=0&c=Page&cid=1254735550786&p=1254735550786&pagename=ProductosYServicios%2FPYSLayout&rendermode=previewnoinsitem

  • 10.6Documentation on methodology

    The methodology document can be accessed at the following link:

    https://www.ine.es/en/metodologia/t20/meto_emn_en.pdf

     

     

  • 10.7Quality documentation

    Sections 10.6 to 17 of this document are considered the user-oriented quality report for this operation.

• 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.

    
    

    In order to manage the quality of these statistics, exhaustive controls are carried out during all process phases. Special emphasis is placed on controlling coverage, assuring that the values of the variables are valid and making sure that there are no inconsistencies in the information received.

  • 11.2Quality assessment

    The information is of high quality since it comes from the data recorded by the Civil Registries through the Ministry of Justice’s INFOREG and DICIREG applications. These applications have been implemented over the last few years in the national territory, reaching a high degree of implementation (only around 4% of births are not recorded and are estimated) and stability.

    A strong point of these statistics is the great speed in providing reliable information on the number of births.

• 12Relevance
  • 12.1User needs

    Users of this statistic include:

    • Researchers and Universities.
    • territorial administrations
    • Enterprises
    • individuals

    Each of these users has different needs depending on the destination and usefulness of the information they require.

  • 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 collected allows us to attend to all requests received.

    The data completeness rate is 100%

    R1=100%

• 13Accuracy and reliability
  • 13.1Overall accuracy

    The quality of data recording in Civil Registries, error correction, data validation, imputation of the lack of information or adjustments for delays in information reception allow for a high degree of reliability of the statistics.

  • 13.2Sampling error

    Since it is a statistic based on administrative records, there are no sampling errors.

  • 13.3Non-sampling error

    Births registered in the Civil Registries and recorded in the Ministry of Justice's INFOREG or DICIREG applications represent approximately 97% of births in Spain. This, together with corrections of delays in birth registrations, is corrected thanks to the implementation of two expansion coefficients.

    A4=2.93%

• 14Timeliness and punctuality
  • 14.1Timeliness

    Monthly, in month m, data for month m-2 are published.

    As provisional and definitive data on birth statistics (Natural Population Movement) based on Birth Statistics Bulletin documents become available, estimates will be replaced by definitive data. Thus, data on births that occurred in 2023 will be considered definitive in November 2024.

    TP1: 45 days

    TP2: 11 months

  • 14.2Punctuality

    Data dissemination is carried out in accordance with the statistics availability calendar prepared and published each year by the INE.

    TP3=0 (there are no publication delays)

• 15Coherence and Comparability
  • 15.1Comparability - geographical

    A very important element to consider is that the estimated data for 2023 are classified, not by the mother's place of residence , but by the place where the birth occurs and therefore where the registration occurs. This nuance is not relevant in the case of provincial data (it would be in the case of data by municipality). But it is necessary to consider that there may be cases of residents in one province giving birth in another. However, the procedure for obtaining the data is the same in all cases, meaning that data from provinces and communities are comparable.

     

  • 15.2Comparability - over time

    The statistics are comparable throughout the period. There has been no methodological break

    CC2 = 93 months

  • 15.3Coherence - cross domain

    This statistic is consistent with the Birth Statistics.

  • 15.4Coherence - internal

    The coherence between the variables is contrasted in all phases of the statistical process.

• 16Cost and burden
  • 16.1Cost and burden

    As a statistic based on an administrative record, there is no additional burden to the informants.

    The estimate of the budget credit necessary to finance the Monthly Birth Statistics provided for in the 2024 Annual Program is 38.53 thousand euros.

• 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-.

    
    
  • 17.2Data revision - practice

    Two types of data coexist in the project:

    • Definitive data (births from 2016 to 2022).
    • Estimated data (births from January 2023 to the last published month).

    Estimated data are reviewed and updated in each monthly publication.

    A6-RMAR=0.22%

    Calculated based on the total of the last 12 months

• 18Statistical processing
  • 18.1Source data

    The original source of the data is the registration of births in the civil registries. For several years, the Ministry of Justice has launched an application known as Inforeg, for recording the different registry entries, including births. This application has been implemented in the Civil Registries although not all use it (around 4% of births registered in Spain are not recorded in Inforeg).

    From October 2021, Inforeg begins to be gradually replaced by a new application, DICIREG, which should ideally be implemented throughout Spain within approximately three years.

  • 18.2Frequency of data collection

    The INE receives a monthly file, on the first working day of each month, which includes all births recorded up to the previous day.

  • 18.3Data collection

    To carry out these statistics, information is obtained from:

    • The definitive files of the Birth Statistics (from the year 2013 to the year 2022)
    • The monthly files received on the first day of each month from the Ministry of Justice with the births registered in the Civil Registries in the month prior to the reception of the file (from January 2023 to the last month published).
  • 18.4Data validation

    Multiple analyses of data evolution coherence are carried out

  • 18.5Data compilation

    Firstly, the INE verifies the reception, reading and processing of the files received from the Ministry of Justice. The data is then purified and validated. The expansion coefficients are then applied. Births recorded in Inforeg for each week in each geographic area are calculated by applying two expansion coefficients. The first coefficient is for undercoverage correction of the original Inforeg and Dicireg data. It is an expansion factor that historically relates births recorded and occuring in each geographical area. The second factor corrects for the delay in data recording. This coefficient is used for the most recent three months published. They are updated and corrected with each new publication of results.

    The last stage before information dissemination is aimed at analyzing the aggregate information and verifying the consistency of the information offered.

  • 18.6Adjustment

    No seasonal adjustments are applied.

• 19Comment
  • 19.1Comment