Press Release Report on Vital Statistics 2010

Births, Deaths and Stillbirths in 2010

The CSO today released the Vital Statistics Annual 2010 report. This reports give a breakdown of the births and deaths that occurred in 2010.

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

There were 75,174 children born in Ireland during 2010, comprising 38,395 males and 36,779 females. While this is the first annual decrease in 5 years, the number of births in 2010 represents the second highest number of births since 1896.

The number of births in 2010 was down by 380 births or 0.5% from 2009 and up 20,385 or 37% since 2000. The birth rate in 2010 was 16.5 per 1,000 of the population compared with 16.7 in 2009 and 14.5 in 2000.

The total period fertility rate (TPFR), or the average number of children per woman, was 2.06 in 2010, the same rate as in 2009. This is just below the fertility rate that must be maintained to replace the population in the absence of migration. Ireland continues to have the highest fertility rate of the 27 EU member states at 2.06 children per woman.

The percentage of births to teenage mothers in 2010 was 2.7% (2,043). This was the lowest recorded percentage since 1966 and since then, the percentage of births to mothers under 20 reached a peak in 1999 at 6.2% (3,314) and has decreased each year since.

The number of births outside marriage that occurred in 2010 was 25,372 or 33.8% of all births.

There were 27,961 deaths in Ireland in 2010, of which 14,334 were males and 13,627 were females. This is equivalent to a rate of 6.1 deaths per 1,000 total population compared with 6.3 in 2010.

The crude death rate per 1,000 of population has shown a gradual downward trend since the beginning of the century, striking long-term falls occurred in the death rates at the younger ages. Additionally, significant decreases in the number of deaths due to circulatory disease have been recorded, decreasing from an average of 4.49 per 1,000 of the population in the years 1981-1990 to 2.11 per 1,000 of the population in 2010.

Diseases of the circulatory system accounted for 34.3% of deaths, neoplasms 29.7%, and diseases of the respiratory system 11.7%.

Ranked in order, the other seven leading causes of death were external causes of injury and poisoning, diseases of the digestive system, diseases of the nervous system, mental and behavioural disorders, endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases, diseases of the genitourinary system, and infectious and parasitic diseases.

The leading causes of death varied widely by age group in 2010. Among young adults aged 15 to 44, external causes of injury and poisoning ranked first. Among individuals aged 45 to 74, neoplasms was the leading cause, while for those aged 75 and older, it was diseases of the circulatory system.

There were 495 suicides recorded in 2010, a decrease of 57 or 10% on the number of suicides recorded in 2009. Males represented 82% of suicides, while females represented 18%.

During 2010 the number of deaths of infants under one year was 271 compared with 247 in 2009. The corresponding rate increased from 3.3 to 3.6 per 1,000 live births.

The number of stillbirths occurring during 2010 was 273 compared with 294 in 2009. The respective corresponding rates for 2010 and 2009 were 3.6 and 3.9 per 1,000 live and stillborn children.

Report on Vital Statistics 2010 is priced at €12.00 and is available on our website:

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 021 453 5307 (LoCall 1890 313 414 ext 5307).

Web: www.cso.ie

Central Statistics Office 16 November 2012

– ENDS –

-- ENDS --