Demographic evolution in the Basque Country: Basque society has aged significantly over the past four decades

This Monday, 16 June, marks 45 years since the first Basque Government chaired by Carlos Garaikoetxea held its first Governing Council. Taking into account the epheméride, EITB wanted to analyse the evolution of Basque society in these four and a half decades through the EITB Data study that will be published these days.

The population of the Basque Country has increased by 3.7 per cent over the last 40 years, from 2,227,684 at the end of 2024 to 80,513 at the end of 1985.

However, the most strikingfigure is the ageing of society n. The average age of the population has increased from 34.6 to 46.2 during this time.

By age brackets, there has been a significant loss of children and young people, with 41.4 per cent of children under 20 years of age currently falling and the population between 20 and 39 years of age falling by 36.7 per cent.

On the other side of the list, there has been a marked increase in the number of adults, so that the number of persons aged 60 to 69 has increased by 78 per cent in recent years, while those over 70 have increased by 166.6 per cent.

The increase in life expectancy and the fall in the birth rate are two of the factors contributing to the ageing of society, with a 38.8 per cent decrease in the number of births since 1985, with 12,937 births in the CSC in 2024, the lowest since 1975.

In fact, the attitude to motherhood has changed. In this period of time, the age of the first child has been delayed by five years, from 26.9 to 32.4.