02 June 2022
Go to release: Vital Statistics Fourth Quarter 2021
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (02 June 2022) released the Vital Statistics Quarter 4 2021 Release.
Commenting on the release, Gerard Doolan, Statistician in the Vital Statistics Division, said: “The number of deaths in Quarter 4 2021 increased by 1,228 or 16.6% compared to the same period last year. There were 485 deaths due to COVID-19 in this period accounting for one in eighteen (5.6%) of all deaths in the period.
Deaths due to malignant neoplasms (cancer) and circulatory disease were the biggest causes of death in Q4 2021 and accounted for more than half (55.2%) of all deaths.
The number of births has increased by 2,666 (or 19.6%) from the same quarter in the previous year, up from 13,584 in Q4 2020 to 16,250 in 2021. Births to teenage mothers increased from 184 in Q4 2020 to 190 in Q4 2021.
The average age of mothers was 33.4 in Q4 2021, which is an increase of 0.1 years from that reported in the same quarter in 2020, while 10 years ago it was 31.8 years for the same period.
More than two in five (41.5%) of all births were outside of marriage/civil partnership, compared to the same quarter a year earlier when 38.1% of births were to mothers outside of marriage. Ten years ago, in Q4 2011, this proportion was one in three (34.3%) of all births.
The natural increase (births minus deaths) in Q4 2021 was 7,624, an increase of 23.2% on the same period in 2020 when it was 6,186.”
There is an Information Note on the CSO’s website to clarify the availability of death notifications arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also explains the timing of the release of these statistics as death notifications in Ireland can be registered up to three months after the date of death. See ‘Information Note on the implications of COVID-19 on the processing of Death Certificates' for further details.
A new Information Note is also available outlining how the CSO assigns COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death.
Gerard Doolan (+353) 21 453 5130 or David Griffin (+353) 21 453 5273
or email vitalstats@cso.ie
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