Press Release Vital Statistics Fourth Quarter and Yearly Summary 2011

Births, Deaths and Marriages in 2011

The CSO today released the Vital Statistics, Fourth Quarter and Yearly Summary 2011 report.

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

There were 74,650 births registered in 2011, 38,223 males and 36,427 females, a decrease of 326 on 2010. The 2011 total is 23.3 % higher than in 2002 when 60,521 babies were registered.

In 2011 the fertility rate for Ireland was 2.04, slightly lower than the replacement rate of 2.10 which was experienced in 2010. 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.

The average age of mothers for births registered in 2011 was 31.8 years. Almost two in five (39.6%) births in 2011 were to first time mothers where the average age was 29.8 years. Just less than 34% of births in 2011 were outside marriage with almost 55% of all births outside marriage to cohabiting parents.

Births to mothers of Irish nationality accounted 77% of the births in 2011. A further 1.9% of births were to mothers of UK nationality, with 1.4% born to mothers from EU15 countries excluding Ireland and the UK. Almost 11% of births were born to mothers from the Accession states (EU27 excl. EU 15) and 7.8% to mothers from non EU countries. The remaining 0.6% of births did not state a nationality for the mother.

There were 28,995 deaths registered in 2011, an increase of 1,430 on the 2010 figure. This represents an annual death rate of 6.3 per 1,000 the population.

There were 258 infant deaths registered in 2011 giving an infant mortality rate of 3.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. Neonatal deaths are deaths of infants at ages under 4 weeks. There were 190 neonatal deaths registered in 2011, a neonatal mortality rate of 2.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Almost 3 in every 4 deaths were from either diseases of the circulatory system (33%), malignant neoplasm (30%), or diseases of the respiratory system (12%). Deaths due to accidents, suicide and other external causes accounted for a further 6% of all deaths in 2011.

There were 525 suicides registered in 2011 or 11.4 per 100,000 of the population. This compares with 490 suicides registered in 2010, an increase of 7%. This years figures saw a rise in male suicides which account for 84% of all suicide deaths in 2011.

The natural increase (births minus deaths) in 2011 was 45,655, a decrease of 3.7% on the 2010 figure.

There were 19,879 marriages registered in 2011, 756 less than in 2010. The number of divorces granted by the Circuit Court and the High Court was 2,819, a decrease of 274 on the 2010 figure.

Hard copies available from the:

Central Statistics Office, Vital Statistics Section, Skehard Road, Cork

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

Internet address: www.cso.ie

Central Statistics Office 11 July 2012

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