Vital Statistics Third Quarter 2008

Births, Deaths and Marriages in Quarter 3 2008

Number of births continues to increase

There were 18,792 births registered in quarter 3 of 2008, an increase of just over 1% in the number of births registered in the corresponding quarter of 2007. This is lower than the level of increase which had been recorded in recent quarters. In the second quarter of 2008 the annual increase recorded was 11%.

These figures are contained in the Central Statistics Office’s Vital Statistics Third Quarter 2008 report.

Births in the third quarter of 2008 represented a relatively high annual birth rate of 17.0 per 1,000 population. Galway City and Cork City recorded the lowest birth rate of 13.1 per 1,000 population , while the highest birth rate was recorded in County Meath at 22.2 per 1,000 population.

Of the 18,792 births, 42% were to first time mothers, and just under one third to second time mothers. The average age of mothers was 31.1 years, ranging from 29.0 years in Limerick City to 33.1 years in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. The average age of mothers having their first child was 28.8 years.

There were 6,226 births (33% of all births) registered as outside of marriage in quarter 3 2008. Of these, 3,204 (17% of all births) were to unmarried parents with the same address.

There were 6,829 deaths registered in quarter 3 2008, an annual death rate of 6.2 per 1,000 population. For those aged 65 and over, the annual death rate was 43.3 per 1,000 population, an improvement of almost 12.5% since 1999. 

Over one third of all deaths were attributed to circulatory diseases (34%), while 31% were attributed to malignant neoplasms and 10% to respiratory diseases.

There were 73 infant deaths registered in quarter 3 2008 giving an infant mortality rate of 3.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.

The natural increase in the population (births minus deaths) for quarter 3 2008 was 11,963, representing a rate of 10.8 per 1,000 population. This rate was lowest in County Mayo (4.1 per 1,000 population) and highest in Fingal (18.5 per 1,000 population).

There were 8,765 marriages registered in Quarter 3 2008, traditionally the most popular quarter in which to get married.  This represents an annual rate of 7.9 per 1,000 population.

Vital Statistics Third Quarter is priced at €6.00 and is available on our website

www.cso.ie (PDF 160KB) (PDF 295KB)

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 Sandra Tobin (LoCall 1890 313 414 ext 5307).

Internet address: http://www.cso.ie

Central Statistics Office                                                                      17 June2009

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