Births, Deaths and Stillbirths in 2003

Irish fertility rates highest in EU

Women in Ireland are currently having more children on average during their lifetime than women in any other EU country. In 2003 the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for Ireland was 1.98 children, compared with an EU average of 1.48 children. The country with the next highest TFR was France (1.89 children). See Table overleaf.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) estimates the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime. It is the standard international measure for comparing fertility rates between countries and over time.

The TFR for Ireland has risen from a low of 1.85 children in 1995. However, during the 1960's and 1970's the TFR was always above 3 children, and was always above 2 children during the 1980's.

These figures are contained in the Central Statistics Office's Vital Statistics Annual report for 2003.

The TFR for Ireland in 2002 was also 1.98. Teenagers and women in their twenties had less children on average in 2003 than in 2002, but this was compensated for by women in their thirties and early forties having more children on average in 2003 than in 2002. See Table 2.1. The average age of mothers in 2003 was 30.6 years, 0.2 years older than in 2002. See Table 2.20.

There were 61,529 births in 2003, an increase of 1,026 on the 2002 figure, the highest they have been since 1986.

Over 31% of births (or 19,210) in 2003 were outside marriage. For women having their first child, over 43% of births were outside marriage. This figure decreases to just over a quarter (26%) of second children born outside marriage, and less than one in five (19.5%) of third children are born outside marriage. See Tables 2.8, 2.9.

Deaths in 2003

The report also shows that husbands are much more likely to die before wives than wives before husbands. Of the 10,648 married people who died in 2003, over two-thirds (68%) were men. On the other hand, 7,520 widows died in 2003, almost 3 times more than the 2,680 widowers who died.

Of all women dying in 2003, over half (53%) were widowed and less than a quarter (24%) were married. By contrast, less than one in five (18%) men who died in 2003 was widowed and almost half (48%) were married. See Table 3.14.

There were 29,074 deaths in Ireland in 2003, a decrease of 609 on the 2002 figure. This corresponds to a rate of 7.3 deaths per 1,000 population, compared to 7.6 in 2002.

Almost 4 in every 5 deaths were from either diseases of the circulatory system (38%), cancer (26%), or diseases of the respiratory system (15%). There were 11,038 deaths due to circulatory diseases (which include heart disease and stroke), 7,603 deaths due to cancer, and 4,454 deaths due to respiratory diseases. See Table 3.21.

Deaths due to injury and poisoning amounted to 1,601 or over one in twenty (5.5%) of all deaths. Almost 70% of these deaths were males. See Table 3.21.

Vital Statistics Annual Report 2003 is priced at €12 and is available from the:

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

Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2,

or through any bookseller.

For more information contact Joseph Keating (LoCall 1890 313 414 ext 5121).

Internet address: http://www.cso.ie (PDF 874KB)

21 December 2005

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