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Report on Vital Statistics 2011

 

The CSO today released the Report on Vital Statistics 2011.

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

 

Births

 

  • There were 74,033 children born in Ireland in 2011 with 37,898 males and 36,135 females, a decrease of 1,141 births or 1.5% on 2010. The 2011 total is almost 28% higher than 10 years previously (2001) when there were 57,854 live births.

 

  • In 2011, the fertility rate for Ireland was 2.02, slightly lower than the rate of 2.06 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 that occurred in 2011 was 31.8 years. A total of 29,210 births (39.5%) were to first time mothers in 2011. Mothers under 30 accounted for 34.7% of births in 2011 compared to ten years previously (2001) when mothers under 30 accounted for 44.2% of births.

 

  • The total number of births outside marriage/civil partnership in 2011 was 25,091. This corresponds to 33.9% of all births, 0.1% higher than 2010. The highest percentage of births outside marriage/civil partnership occurred in Limerick City at 48.8% while the area with the lowest percentage was Galway County at 25.2%.

 

  • In 2011, 77.3% of mothers’ were of Irish nationality, 1.9% of UK nationality, 1.4% of EU-15 (excluding Ireland and the UK) nationality, 10.8% of EU-27 (excluding EU-15) nationality and 7.9% of other nationality. The nationality of the mother was not stated for 0.6% of births.

 

  • The number of maternities in 2011 which resulted in multiple live births was 1,335 consisting of 1,307 sets of twins, 27 sets of triplets and 1 set of quadruplets. . This is equivalent to a “twinning rate” of 18.0 (i.e. the number of sets of live twins per 1,000 maternities which resulted in live births). This represents an increase of 1.2 on the 2010 rate of 16.8. Over the past 20 years, the twinning rate has increased very significantly – from 11.7 in 1991 to a high of 18.0 in 2011.

 

Deaths

 

  • There were 28,456 deaths in Ireland in 2011, an increase of 495 on the 2010 figure. This represents an annual death rate of 6.2 per 1,000 of the population compared to 6.1 per 1,000 of the population in 2010.

 

  • There were 262 deaths of infants aged less than one year 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 188 neonatal deaths registered in 2011, a neonatal mortality rate of 2.5 deaths per 1,000 live births.

 

  • Just over a third (33.6%) of all infant deaths occurred within the first day of birth and over 56% occurred within the first week. Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities accounted for 44.3% of infant deaths in 2011.

 

  • There were 9,236 or 32,5% of deaths attributed to diseases of the circulatory system, 8,871 or 31.2% were attributed to cancers while deaths from diseases of the respiratory system in 2011 numbered 3,438 or 12.1% of all deaths.

 

  • There were 554 deaths due to intentional self-harm in 2011, 458 or 82.7% were male while 96 or 17.3% were female. Deaths from suicide accounted for almost 2% of all deaths that occurred in 2011. There were 495 deaths by suicide in 2010 which represented nearly1.8% of all deaths in that year.

 

Natural Increase

 

The natural increase (births minus deaths) in 2011 was 45,577, a decrease of almost 3.5% on the 2010 figure. The natural increase, 10 years previously, in 2001 was 27,642, a decrease of over 39.4% on the 2011 figure.

 

For more information contact Carol Anne Hennessy on 021 453 5307, (LoCall 1890 313 414 ext 5307)

Central Statistics Office                                                                       4 October 2013

– ENDS –