The Azores registered in 2007 the highest birth rate among the several Portuguese regions - 11,7 births for a thousand inhabitants, against 9,7 for a thousand of medium national rate.
According to a study of the National Statistics Institute today spread (INE), the Region registered, in the last six years, a retreat in terms of birth-rate of 1,2 for a thousand, 0,1 for a thousand below the average breach of the Country.
The same document, equally, indicates an aging rate in the Azores inferior to the Portuguese average - in the Region the total of the residents with more than 65 years old was corresponding, last year, to 12,4 percent of the population, against 17,4 percent in the Country.
In the Azores, marriages happen, on the other side, in inferior ages to that of the national average: in 2007, the women were marrying in the Region with an age average of 26,6 years old (29,7 in Portugal) and the men at 29,6 (32,2).