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What are Vital Statistics?

Vital Statistics (Births. Deaths and Marriages) have been collected in Ireland since 1864.
Every birth, death, and marriage occurring in Ireland must be registered with the General Register Office (GRO). The data on these registration forms is forwarded to the Vital Statistics section of the CSO for the production of Statistics.

When are the statistics published?

CSO quarterly reports on births, deaths and marriages registered during a three-month period. The 4th quarterly report of each year also includes an annual summary of births, deaths and marriages registered during the year.

Not all of the births, deaths and marriages registered in a particular year will have occurred in that year. For example a birth occurring at the end of one year might not be registered until the beginning of the next year. There can be a delay of some months between occurrence and registration in the case of a death where an inquest is required. To account for this, we also publish an annual report of births and deaths that occurred during a particular year. This annual report is much bigger than the quarterly reports or annual summary. It also contains statistics on stillbirths occurring in a particular year.