Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Births, Deaths and Stillbirths in 2007


The CSO today released the Vital Statistics Annual 2007 report. This report gives a breakdown of the births and deaths that occurred in 2007. Some of the key points highlighted in the report are as follows:


Births

  • There were 71,389 births in 2007, an increase of 5,964 on the 2006 figure. The birth rate in 2007 was 16.5 per 1,000 of the population, 1.1 births per 1,000 above 2006. This was the highest number of births recorded for a single year since 1981.
  • Ireland had the highest fertility rate of the 27 EU member states in 2007, at 2.05 children per woman. France and the UK followed with rates of 1.98 and 1.92 respectively. Slovakia, Romania and Poland had the lowest rates of 1.25, 1.30 and 1.31 respectively. 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.
  • 33% of births (23,640) in 2007 were outside marriage. For women having their first child, almost 44% of births were outside marriage. This figure decreases to 28% of second children born outside marriage, and 22% of third children born outside marriage.

Deaths

  • There were 28,117 deaths in 2007, a decrease of 371 on the 2006 figure. The death rate in 2007 was 6.5 per 1,000 of the population compared with 6.7 per 1,000 of the population in 2006.
  • The Irish standardised death rate in 2007 was 6.01 per 1,000 of population for Ireland compared with 5.99 per 1,000 of population for the UK. The Irish rate is below the standardised rate for the European Union 27 countries (for which a rate of 6.2 has been calculated) and above the standardised rate for the European Union 15 countries (5.6 deaths per 1,000 of population). The Irish figure is provisional and based on deaths registered in 2007.  Standardised death rates take account of different population age structures and are calculated for comparison purposes across countries.
  • Over 3 in every 4 deaths were from either diseases of the circulatory system, neoplasms or diseases of the respiratory system. There were 9,956 (35%) deaths due to diseases of the circulatory system (which include heart disease and stroke), 7,917 (28%) deaths due to malignant neoplasms (cancers), and 3,324 (12%) deaths due to diseases of the respiratory system.
  • Deaths due to external causes of injury and poisoning amounted to 1,759 or one in sixteen (6%) of all deaths. Over 71% of these deaths were males.
  • There were 230 deaths of infants, under one year in 2007, compared with 255 in 2006. The infant mortality rate, which was 3.9 per 1,000 births in 2006, decreased to 3.2 in 2007.

 

Report on Vital Statistics 2007 is priced at €12 and is available on our website www.cso.ie (PDF 1,060KB)

 

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).

Web: www.cso.ie

 

Central Statistics Office                                                                      27 May 2010


- ENDS -