First babies born in 2020: Ariadna and Carlos Dariel, in Elda and Madrid

They still do not get as much paid time off as mums, who have 16 weeks on full salary if they are employed, although this is likely to change in the next few years – and some argue that mothers need more time off after a birth because they have to recover from pregnancy and labour.

This year, no babies were born during the chimes or in the first seconds of the New Year, as is often the case – but Ariadna, who came into the world in the hospital in Elda (Vinalopó Mitjà district, southern Alicante province) and Carlos Dariel, born at the Infanta Leonor hospital in Madrid, both appeared at exactly 00.02 this morning (Wednesday).

Ariadna weighed 3.1 kilos (6lbs 13.35oz) and Carlos 3.4 kilos (7lb 8oz), both a healthy size, and both babies and their mothers are said to be doing well.

Two minutes later, the third baby of the year was born in the Mútua Hospital in Terrassa (Barcelona province) – Aleix, at 00.04, weighing 3.8 kilos (8lb 6oz).

Another 11 minutes would pass before baby number four appeared – a little boy, who does not yet have a name, at Tenerife's Canaries' University Hospital, again a healthy weight.

The first baby born in the Murcia Region is Israel, at Arrixaca Hospital, at 00.43.

It would be many hours before the first babies of the year on the Costa Blanca came into the world – one of these was Alejandro, born at 09.26 this morning at Dénia hospital to a 32-year-old Romanian mum who lives just a few kilometres south in Jávea (northern Alicante province).

Alejandro's mum was rushed to hospital at 03.30 this morning, meaning she had time to see in the New Year before contractions started in earnest, her labour was straightforward and her little boy a healthy weight.

Fathers of these children will be required to take their first four weeks' paternity leave immediately after the birth, but the remaining eight weeks can be taken any time in the child's first year of life, meaning that if the mums go back to work after four months, they will have another two with their dads at home to care for them full-time.

Nurseries in Spain take children almost from birth, and more and more towns are offering free places for the under-threes to ease the cost for new parents.

Children start school in Spain at age three.