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Births, Deaths and Marriages in Quarter 1 2007

 

Average age of first-time mothers continues to rise

 

The average age of mothers having their first child was 28.9 years for births registered in Quarter 1 2007, an increase of 0.4 years on Quarter 1 2006. The average age for all mothers was 31.1 years, an increase of 0.2 years on the corresponding Quarter 1 2006 figure.


These figures are contained in the Central Statistics Office’s Vital Statistics First Quarter 2007 report.

 

The average age at which women have their first child has risen by almost 2 years in the last decade and by almost 4 years in the last three decades. In 1998 the average age of first-time mothers was 27.1 years, 1.8 years less than the most recent figure. In 1978 the average age of first-time mothers was only 25.0 years, 3.9 years less than the most recent figure.


There was a total of 7,207 first-time births in Quarter 1 2007. This included 1,068 first-time births to women over 35 and 524 first-time births to teenagers. See Table 3 of report.


The oldest first-time mothers were in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown with an average age of 30.9 years at first birth. The youngest first-time mothers were in Limerick City, with an average age of 25.7 years. See Table 4 of report.


Over two in five (42.8%) births were to first time mothers. Just over one-third of all births (33.8%) were outside marriage. See Table 2 of report.


There were 17,473 births registered in quarter 1 2007, a birth rate of 16.5 per 1,000 population.

 

The report also shows that 7,910 deaths were registered in quarter 1 2007, a death rate of 7.5 per 1,000 population.


Almost 4 in every 5 deaths were from either diseases of the circulatory system (37%), cancer (26%), or diseases of the respiratory system (15%). There were 2,937 deaths due to circulatory diseases (which include heart disease and stroke), 2,020 deaths due to cancer, and 1,150 deaths due to respiratory diseases. See Table 8 of report.


The natural increase in the population (births minus deaths) for Quarter 1 2007 was 9,563.


There were 3,399 marriages registered in Quarter 1 2007.

 

Vital Statistics First Quarter 2007 is priced at €6.00 and is available on our website www.cso.ie (PDF 148KB).


Hard copies 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


27 November 2007


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