Catalonia records first rise in births since 2008, but fertility hits historic low

Catalonia recorded its first increase in births in 17 years in 2025, with 54,249 babies born, according to provisional data from the Catalan Statistics Institute (Idescat).

A total of 28,019 boys and 26,230 girls were born in Catalonia last year, 449 more babies than in 2024, representing an increase of 0.8%.

The increase was largely linked to a 0.5% rise in the number of women of childbearing age, although fertility continued to decline.

The rise in births breaks a downward trend that began in 2008, when nearly 89,000 babies were born in Catalonia.

Since then, the number of births has fallen significantly, with the 2025 figure around 35,000 below that level.

The crude birth rate remained stable at 6.7 live births per 1,000 inhabitants.

Despite the rise in births, Catalonia's fertility rate hit a record low in 2025, at 1.08 children per woman – the lowest figure since records began in 1975.

Fertility was higher among women with foreign nationality, at 1.29 children per woman, compared with 1.06 among women with Spanish nationality.

The average age of mothers increased again in 2025, reaching 32.8 years. The average age at the birth of a first child was 31.8 years.

Among babies born to mothers with foreign nationality, those with Moroccan mothers formed the largest group, with 4,373 live births, representing 8.1% of all births in Catalonia and 23.2% of births to mothers with foreign nationality.

They were followed by births to Colombian mothers (1,517), Pakistani mothers (1,345), Honduran mothers (857) and Peruvian mothers (744).

Júlia and Biel lead baby-name rankings

Júlia was the most popular name for babies born in 2025, with 449 girls given the name.

It returns to the top position three years after last leading the rankings, and has now been the most common name among girls for nine years over the past two decades.

Sofia, which topped the girls' ranking in 2024, moved into second place with 427 babies, while Martina was third with 357. Emma (349) and Ona (344) completed the top five.

Among boys, Biel reached the top of the rankings for the first time since Idescat's historical series began in 1997, with 378 newborns given the name.

Nil was second with 375, followed by Marc with 371.

Jan (347) and Martí (338) completed the top five boys' names. Leo, which became the most popular boys’ name in 2022 for the first time since the start of the series, has since fallen to ninth place.

Short names remain popular

Short names continued to dominate in 2025, with choices such as Aina, Gala, Mia, Lucía and Laia remaining among the most common girls' names.

Among boys, Mateo, Hugo, Luca, Pau, Arnau and Pol also remained popular.

The naming trends have changed considerably since Idescat began recording the statistics in 1997. Laura, which was the most common girls' name that year with 1,116 newborns, has fallen to 51 babies in 2025. Andrea and Marta, which were also close to 900 births in 1997, now appear far less frequently.

Among boys, David was the most common name in 1997, with 946 newborns, but fell to 96 in 2025. Daniel, which had 747 births that year, dropped to 114.