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Births, Deaths and Marriages in 2010

 

The CSO today released the Vital Statistics, Fourth Quarter and Yearly Summary 2010 report.

Some of the key points highlighted in the report are as follows:


Births

  • There were 73,724 births registered in 2010, a decrease of 554 on the number of births registered in 2009. While the number of births registered remains high, this is the second consecutive annual decrease following the high of 75,065 births registered in 2008. The 2010 total is 27.4% higher than in 2001 when 57,882 babies were registered.
  • In 2010 the fertility rate for Ireland was 2.07, the same rate recorded in 2009 and a decrease of 1.4% from the rate of 2.1 recorded in 2008. The fertility rate represents the projected number of children a woman would have if she experienced current age specific fertility rates while progressing from age 15-49 years. A value of 2.1 is generally considered to be the level at which the population would replace itself in the long run, ignoring migration.
  • Similar to 2009, over two in five (42%) births in 2010 were to first time mothers and just over 34% of births in 2010 were outside marriage. Just over 54% of all births outside marriage were to cohabiting parents.
  • Births to mothers of Irish nationality accounted 76% of the births in 2010. A further 2.3% of births were to mothers of UK nationality, 1.5% to mothers from EU15 excluding Ireland and the UK, 10.5% to mothers from the Accession states (EU27 excl. EU 15) and 8.3% to mothers from non EU countries. The remaining 1.3% of births did not state a nationality for the mother.

Deaths

  • There were 27,122 deaths registered in 2010, a decrease of 1,776 on the 2009 figure. This represents a decrease in the rate per 1,000 of population from 6.5 in 2009 to a 6.1 in 2010, a decrease of 0.4 per 1,000 population.
  • There were 279 infant deaths registered in 2010 giving an infant mortality rate of 3.8 deaths per 1,000 live births. Neonatal deaths are deaths of infants at ages under 4 weeks. There were 188 neonatal deaths registered in 2010, a neonatal mortality rate of 2.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.
  • Almost 3 in every 4 deaths were from either diseases of the circulatory system (34%), cancer (29%), or diseases of the respiratory system (12%). Deaths due to accidents, suicides and other external causes accounted for a further 6% of all deaths in 2010.
  • There were 486 suicides registered in 2010 or 10.9 per 100,000 of the population. This compares with 527 suicides registered in 2009, a decrease of 7.8%. Males represented 79% of suicides, while females represented 21%.

Natural Increase

  • The natural increase (births minus deaths) in 2010 was 46,602, an increase of 2.7% on the 2009 figure.


Marriages and Divorces

  • There were 20,635 marriages registered in 2010, 906 less than in 2009. The number of divorces granted by the Circuit Court and the High Court was 3,093, a decrease of 248 on the 2009 figure.

 

Vital Statistics Fourth Quarter and Yearly Summary 2010 is available free of charge on our website www.cso.ie (PDF 253KB) (PDF 243KB)


For more information contact Sandra Tobin (LoCall 1890 313 414 ext 5307).

Internet address: http://www.cso.ie

 

Central Statistics Office                                                                     29 June 2011


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