Spain registers more births than a year ago: the new map of birth rates

The Monthly Birth Estimate (EMN) of the INE is not produced directly from all births that occur, but from the registrations recorded in computerized civil registries, which the Ministry of Justice periodically sends to the statistical institute. The relevant requirements, therefore, are not "statistical" in the classical sense (minimum size, etc.), but above all technical and related to integration into civil registry systems.

According to the INE's methodological note on the EMN and the operation associated with weekly deaths and births, the procedure works as follows:

• The population scope of the EMN is all births registered in Spain.
• The collection method is the statistical exploitation of an administrative register: the data recorded in the civil registries.
• The General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith (Ministry of Justice) sends the INE files of births recorded in INFOREG and DICIREG, the official computer applications of the Civil Registry.

From this description, it follows that, for the information from a particular civil registry to be included in the EMN, it must meet at least these basic conditions:

1. Be computerized and integrated into INFOREG or DICIREG

The EMN is fed exclusively by “computerized civil registries”. This means that the registry must:

• Use one of the two official Civil Registry management systems (INFOREG or DICIREG), which are the platforms from which the files sent to the INE are generated.
• Have its birth registrations recorded in those systems; births that only appear in physical books or in non-integrated applications are not part of the standard flow that reaches the INE.

In practice, this limits the source to registries that have already completed or advanced sufficiently in the modernization and computerization promoted by Justice.

2. Send their data through the competent General Directorate

The INE does not collect information “one by one” from each registry, but receives:

• Monthly files of births recorded in INFOREG and DICIREG, sent by the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith.

Therefore, for the data from a registry to be in the EMN, it is necessary that:

• The registry submits its registrations on time to the General Directorate through the computer systems.
• These registrations are effectively incorporated into the files that the General Directorate sends to the INE.

3. Comply with the INE's quality and format standards

The EMN methodological note refers to the detailed methodology and the standardized methodological report, where the general quality criteria of the institute's statistics are described. Although a closed list of requirements for each specific civil registry is not formulated, general conditions are established:

• The registry must provide data in the standardized format foreseen in INFOREG/DICIREG (mandatory variables, codifications, etc.).
• The information must meet minimum completeness and consistency standards (valid dates, residence, basic data of the mother, etc.) to be integrated into the statistical exploitation.
• The data are used on a provisional basis, and the INE warns that they may undergo later revisions when delayed registrations or corrections are incorporated.

4. Scope and limits: what it does not imply

In the public documentation consulted from the INE, there is no nominal list of “admitted registries” nor additional legal or organizational requirements (minimum number of births, size of the judicial district, etc.). What is decisive is:

• Being computerized and operating in INFOREG or DICIREG.
• Correctly uploading the data to those systems, so that they enter the files that the Ministry of Justice sends to the INE.

Thus, the inclusion of data from a civil registry in the EMN does not depend on an express request to the INE, but on its effective integration into the computer infrastructure and data exchange system of the Civil Registry.

To know the technical details (fields, controls, and possible exclusions of records with incomplete information), the INE itself refers to the methodology and the standardized methodological report of the Monthly Birth Estimate, accessible from its press releases and from INEbase.

The competencies of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) in demographic matters are fundamentally defined in the Law 12/1989, on the Public Statistical Function and in Royal Decree 803/2022, which approves its current Statute. These norms are supplemented by specific provisions on censuses and registers, such as Royal Decree 753/2011 on the 2011 population and housing censuses.

1. General framework of the INE's statistical competencies

Law 12/1989 establishes the INE as an autonomous state body responsible for statistics for state purposes. Within this general framework:

• The INE is the central body of the state public statistical function, with full powers to order and carry out statistical operations when they concern statistics of state interest (preamble and Title II of Law 12/1989, in connection with art. 149.1.31 CE).
• Article 26, letter j), expressly assigns the INE the formation of general censuses, both demographic and economic and their derivatives, a key legal basis for its demographic competencies.
• The Law foresees that the National Statistical Plan and its annual programs include demographic statistics (censuses, population surveys, migrations, etc.) as official operations for state purposes.

Additionally, the Law articulates cooperation with autonomous communities and local entities, especially relevant in the register and population censuses, and subjects all activity to the principles of reliability, objectivity, statistical secrecy, proportionality, and transparency (art. 2 and following).

2. INE Statute (Royal Decree 803/2022): Directorate General of Population Statistics

Royal Decree 803/2022 updates the INE Statute and specifies the organization and demographic functions in the Directorate General of Population Statistics. According to its articles:

• The Directorate General of Population Statistics is responsible for the promotion, coordination, execution, and analysis of demographic censuses and other demographic and social statistics “that are produced taking individuals and households as the basic unit of reference.”
• Among its specific functions (corresponding article of the Statute) are:
  • Population and housing censuses: promotion, execution, and analysis of censuses and maintenance of statistical population and territory registers (letter a)).
  • National register base: maintenance and management of the national register base, as a result of the coordination of municipal registers (letter b)).
  • Nomenclature of population entities: preparation of the official nomenclature, essential for demographic georeferencing (letter c)).
  • Demographic analysis and estimates: demographic analyses and estimates of population and households, basis for population estimates and projections (letter d)).
  • Statistics of demographic phenomena: preparation of statistics on births, deaths, marriages, migrations, and other phenomena that determine population evolution and characteristics (letter e)).
• Other social statistics closely linked to demography (health, household living conditions, labor market, etc.) are also located under this Directorate General, enabling integrated demographic analyses.
• It is assigned the research and promotion of the use of administrative registers and new data sources related to individuals and households, in coordination with the Directorate General of Statistical Planning and Processes (letter m)), crucial for modern demographic statistics (continuous register, civil registries, administrative migrations...).
• It also assumes the national and international liaison and coordination in population statistics matters, especially before European institutions (letter n)).

3. Censuses, register, and official population figures

Along with the Statute and the Law, specific norms such as Royal Decree 753/2011 specify that:

• The INE forms the population and housing censuses, relying on data from municipal registers and obtaining collaboration from municipalities and other administrations.
• The INE exercises the direction, coordination, and execution of the work for the formation of these censuses, defines the content of the statistical project, and publishes the general results, providing information to administrations and users.

Other provisions (annual royal decrees of official population figures, joint INE–General Directorate of Autonomous and Local Cooperation resolutions on register management) consolidate two core competencies:

• Technical coordination of the municipal register, including technical instructions to municipalities and centralized management of the national register base.
• Proposal and technical support of the official population figures of municipalities, which the Government declares official by royal decree.

4. Summary

Overall, Spanish legislation assigns the INE full competence over state demographic statistics: design and execution of population and housing censuses, coordination and statistical exploitation of the municipal register, preparation of population and demographic phenomena statistics, estimates and projections, and coordination with the European statistical system, all under the principles of statistical secrecy, neutrality, and professional independence established in Law 12/1989.

In Spain, the regulation of the preparation and publication of official demographic statistics (population, birth rate, mortality, migrations) is structured around a basic statistics law, the organic-functional norms of the National Institute of Statistics (INE), and the National Statistical Plan, all framed within European regulations on official statistics.

1. Basic state norm: Law 12/1989, on the Public Statistical Function

The pillar of the system is Law 12/1989, of May 9, on the Public Statistical Function (text in BOE). This law:

• Organizes the public statistical function and establishes the legal regime for data collection, processing, conservation, and dissemination by statistical services.
• Establishes that statistics with mandatory response must be regulated, in their essential aspects, by law, connecting with the protection of privacy and other fundamental rights.
• Defines the National Statistical Plan as the central instrument for organizing the statistical activity of the General State Administration, with a four-year validity.
• Regulates statistical secrecy, the reuse of administrative registers, and coordination among state, autonomous, and local statistical services, which directly affects censuses, registers, and demographic statistics.

Although Law 12/1989 is not exclusive to demography, its material scope is potentially unlimited and fully applies to operations on population, birth rate, mortality, and migrations, as statistics for state purposes.

2. INE Statute and organization of population statistics

Royal Decree 803/2022, of October 4, approving the Statute of the Autonomous Body National Institute of Statistics (text in BOE) deeply updates the structure and functions of the INE.

• It reorganizes the body and creates, among others, the Directorate General of Population Statistics, specifically responsible for sociodemographic indicators and surveys.
• It strengthens the INE's role in the coordination of the National Statistical System and its alignment with the European Statistical System.
• It expressly incorporates requirements of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (data protection) through the figure of the Data Protection Officer, very relevant for statistics with microdata on population.

This statute does not define specific indicators of birth rate or migrations, but it regulates the legal capacity, technical competencies, and operational neutrality of the INE to produce and disseminate official demographic statistics.

3. National Statistical Plan 2025-2028

The operational instrument that specifies which demographic statistics are produced, with what content and periodicity, is the National Statistical Plan. The current one is:

• Royal Decree 1225/2024, of December 3, approving the National Statistical Plan 2025-2028 (text in BOE).

This royal decree develops article 8 of Law 12/1989 and establishes:

• The list of statistical operations for state purposes in the four-year period, including population and housing censuses, exploitation of the register, statistics on birth rate, mortality, and migrations, among many others.
• For each operation, the responsible bodies, purposes, target group, territorial scope, and necessary resources.
• The automatic integration into the Plan of statistics required by European regulations.

The Plan does not create the statistical function (already done by Law 12/1989), but specifies and organizes how the different official demographic series at the state level are produced and updated.

4. Official declaration of population figures

The official status of population figures derived from the municipal register is declared periodically by royal decree. Among others, the system includes norms such as:

• Royal Decree 1210/2024, of November 28, which declares official the population figures as of 1-1-2024.
• Royal Decree 1085/2023, of December 5, for the figures as of 1-1-2023.
• And successive annual royal decrees from at least 2012 onwards.

These royal decrees, issued in execution of Law 12/1989 and the regulation of the register, grant official and binding status to the population figures used in local financing, political representation, and service planning.

5. Relevant European legal framework

The Spanish system is inserted in the framework of European statistics, expressly cited in Royal Decree 1225/2024:

• Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, on European statistics, which establishes the principles, organization, and quality of the European Statistical System, to which the INE belongs.
• Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, which sets a common framework for European statistics on individuals and households based on individual data, key for employment, living conditions, and partly demographic structure.
• Regulation (EU) 2021/690, which creates the Single Market Programme and includes funding and framework for European statistics.
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138, which defines high-value data sets and modalities of publication and reuse, impacting how certain population data are disseminated.

These norms are directly applicable in Spain and condition the design, frequency, variables, and quality of many demographic operations, which are then incorporated into the National Statistical Plan.

In summary, the regulation of official demographic statistics in Spain essentially rests on Law 12/1989, the INE Statute (Royal Decree 803/2022), the National Statistical Plan 2025-2028, and the annual royal decrees of population figures, all closely connected with the European statistical framework established by European Union regulations.