Birth rate hits a new low with just 11,683 babies born in Malaga province in 2024

The birth rate is so low in Malaga province that the average number of children per woman is already below 1.1. In 2024, the conjunctural fertility indicator, which defines the average number of children had by a woman throughout her fertile life if she were to maintain the same fertility intensity for her age as that observed in a given year, hit a new, all-time low of 1.07. This is the lowest rate in all Andalucía (the regional average is 1.17) and is also below the national average in Spain of 1.12. At the other end of the scale is Almeria, where the average number of children born per woman is 1.43. These are still provisional figures published by Ieca, the Andalusian institute of statistics and cartography.

The average number of children per woman in Malaga has plummeted over the last 20 years. In 2004 it was 1.45. At that time the province was still above the Andalusian and national average. This development is closely related to the increase in the average age of childbearing, which is now 32.33 years. Two decades ago it was barely around 30. In this respect, Malaga is also above the Andalusian average, which is 1.45.

All these facts and figures represent different aspects of the same reality: fewer and fewer children are being born across Malaga. In 2024 the province reached a new, all-time low with 11,683 births, which is 75 fewer than in 2023 (-0.64% in percentage terms). The balance for the year as a whole excludes the modest increase that seemed to have occurred in the first 11 months of last year according to provisional estimates from Spain's INE national statistics institute. This is the fourth consecutive year of a fall in the number of babies being born in the province, where, incidentally, the percentage of babies born to foreign mothers continues to rise: it is now almost 24% (only surpassed by Almeria with 36.7%).

All eight Andalusian provinces reported fewer births compared to the previous year, with Cadiz experiencing the largest relative decline at 6.9%. In Almeria and Malaga, this decline was the smallest at 0.6%. By gender, the percentage of male births (51.2%) was higher than that of female births, a situation that was repeated in all provinces except Huelva, where the percentage of female births (50.2%) was slightly higher than that of male births.

The death rate also fell last year, with 13,445 recorded deaths, 513 fewer than in 2023 (-3.68%). This is the second year in a row that the annual death toll in Malaga has fallen since the all-time high reached in 2022 (attributed to the fallout from the pandemic). This decline was not enough, however, to reverse the deficit between births and deaths. Malaga actually had 1,762 more deaths than births in 2024. The province has been experiencing this negative vegetative growth for five years now. What is saving it from population loss is immigration, both domestic (from other provinces or regions) and, above all, foreign.

The provisional demographic report for 2024 also provides some good news: an increase in life expectancy, which has been recovering for three years after the drop caused by the covid crisis and which now stands at 83.5 years. Malaga ties with Granada as the provinces with the highest expected longevity in Andalucía (the regional average is 83 years). In two decades, people from Malaga have gained almost five years of life expectancy.

Interestingly, in the case of men, the longest-lived in all Andalucía come from Malaga, with a life expectancy of 81.2 years. Among women, Granada leads the way at 86.1 years with Malaga in second place at 85.7 years.