Births, Deaths and Marriages in Quarter 3 2011

The CSO today released the Vital Statistics Third Quarter 2011 report.

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

Births

• There were 19,222 births registered in quarter 3 of 2011 , an increase of 51 on the number of births registered in quarter 3 2010 at 19,171, while the quarter 3 2006 total was 2,302 lower at 16,920 births. The quarter 3 2011 total is 23.3% higher than in 2002 when 15,593 babies were registered.
• The 19,222 births represent an annual birth rate of 16.8 per 1,000 of the population, 0.8 above quarter 3 of 2006.This rate is 0.9 per 1,000 of population higher than in 2002. In quarter 3 of 2011, Fingal recorded the highest birth rate of 21.5 per 1,000 of population, while Mayo recorded the lowest birth rate of 13.0 per 1,000 of population.
• There were 6,543 births registered as being outside marriage. This accounted for 34% of all births. Of these, 3,556 births were to unmarried parents with the same address, 18% of all births. The highest percentage of births outside marriage was in Waterford City at 50%, while the lowest percentage of births outside marriage was in Roscommon at 22%.
• A total of 7,514 births (39.3%) were to first time mothers in quarter 3 of 2011. Second time mothers had 6,557 births (34.3%). First births in the third quarter of 2010 and 2006 accounted for 41.0% and 41.6% of all births respectively.
• The average age of mothers for births registered in quarter 3 2011 was 31.7 years, 0.3 years more than the corresponding figure in quarter 3 2010, 0.7 years more than in quarter 3 2006, and 1.3 years more than in quarter 3 2002. The average age of mothers having their first child in quarter 3 2011 was 29.7 years.

Deaths

• There were 6,911 deaths registered in quarter 3 of 2011, an increase of 6.0% on the number of deaths registered in the third quarter of 2010. The quarter 3 2011 total represents a death rate of 6.0 per 1,000 of population. The death rate in quarter 3 of 2006 was 6.3 per 1,000 of population and in quarter 2 of 2002 was 7.1.
• For those aged 65 and over, the annual death rate was 39.6 per 1,000 of population, relating to 5,303 deaths in this age category in quarter 3 2011. This compares with a rate of 44.0 per 1,000 of population for the corresponding quarter of 2006, a decline of 10%. The decrease in this rate since 2002 was 20%, when 49.5 deaths per 1,000 of population, was registered.
• There were 65 infant deaths registered in quarter 3 2011 giving an infant mortality rate of 3.4 deaths per 1,000 live births. The corresponding rate in quarter 3 of 2010 was 3.7 per 1,000 live births and was 4.4 per 1,000 live births in quarter 3 of 2002. The number of neonatal deaths (deaths of infants at ages under 4 weeks) in quarter 3 of 2011 was 41, 2.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.
• Of the 6,911 deaths, 2,265 (32.8%) were attributed to diseases of the heart and arteries (circulatory disease), while 31.3% were attributed to malignant cancers (neoplasms), 11.0% to lung (respiratory) diseases and 6.7% to external causes, including accidents, suicides and other external causes.
• As usual, the leading cause of death in quarter 3 2011 varied widely by age group. Among young adults aged 15 to 44, external causes of death including accidents, suicides and other external causes ranked highest. Among individuals aged 45-74 malignant cancers was the leading cause, while for those aged 75 and older it was diseases of the heart and arteries.

Natural Increase

• The natural increase in the population (births minus deaths) for quarter 3 of 2011 was 12,311. This represents a rate of 10.7 per 1,000 of the population, 1 person per thousand higher than in quarter 3 of 2006.

Marriages

• There were 7,538 marriages registered in quarter 3 of 2011. This is traditionally the most popular quarter in which to marry. The quarter 3 2011 total is similar to the corresponding quarter of 2002 when 7,580 marriages were registered. The rate decreased from 7.7 marriages per 1,000 of the population in 2002 to 6.6 per 1,000 of the popul ation in 2011.

Vital Statistics Third Quarter 2011 is available on our website www.cso.ie (PDF 173KB)  

For more information contact Sandra Tobin on 021 453 5307 or Maria Crowley on 021 453 5016.

Central Statistics Office                                                                        30 April 2012

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