Press Statement

Preasráiteas

31 May 2019

The number of registered births continues to fall, down 14,708 (19.4%) since 2008, to 61,016

Go to release: Vital Statistics Yearly summary 2018

The CSO has today (31 May 2019) released the Vital Statistics, Fourth Quarter and Yearly Summary 2018 reports. Commenting on the Yearly Summary report Carol Anne Hennessy, Statistician, said: “There were 61,016 births registered in 2018, some 1,037 (or 1.7%) fewer than 2017 and a fall of 19.4% since 2008.  This represented an annual birth rate of 12.6 per 1,000 of population compared to 16.9 per 1,000 population in 2008. 

Over a third, 23,061 (37.8%), of babies were born outside of marriage/civil partnerships and of these 59.1% were to cohabitating parents.  A total of 980 teenagers had babies in 2018 and of these 22 were aged under 16 years.  There were 4,670 births to mothers aged 40 and over in 2018 and of these, 327 were aged 45 and over.

The average age of first-time mothers in 2018 was 31.1 years, up 0.1 years from 2017.  The average age of mothers at maternity for all births registered in 2018 was 32.9 years, compared to 32.8 in 2017 and 31.2 years in 2008.   

Births to mothers of Irish nationality accounted for over three-quarters (77.2%) of births in 2018.  A further 2.1% of births were to mothers of UK nationality, with 2.0% born to mothers from EU15 countries (excluding Ireland and the UK). 

There were 31,116 deaths registered in 2018, of which 15,967 were male and 15,149 were female.  This equates to a death rate of 6.4 deaths per 1,000 population.  The 2018 figure is 10.4% higher than in 2008 when 28,192 deaths were registered.

There were 25,633 deaths of persons aged 65 and over registered in 2018 and this accounts for over four-fifths of all deaths registered in 2018.

The death of a live-born infant under the age of one is categorised as an infant death. There were 187 infant deaths registered in 2018 giving an infant mortality rate of 3.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. Ten years earlier in 2008, there were 290 infant deaths registered which equated to an infant mortality rate of 3.8 per 1,000 live births. Neonatal deaths are deaths of infants at ages under four weeks.  There were 139 neonatal deaths registered in 2018, a neonatal mortality rate of 2.3 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Almost three in four deaths were from malignant neoplasm (9,198 or 29.6%), diseases of the circulatory system (8,938 or 28.7%) or diseases of the respiratory system (4,165 or 13.4%). Deaths due to accidents, suicide and other external causes accounted for a further 1,341 or 4.3% of all deaths in 2018.

The natural increase (births minus deaths) in 2018 was 29,900, which was 5.3% lower than the natural increase of 31,569 in 2017.

There were 21,053 marriages registered in 2018, of which 664 were same-sex marriages. The marriage rate in 2018 was 4.3 marriages per 1,000 of population, 0.3 less than the rate in 2017.”

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