Charting some of the changes in Ireland’s economic and social history to mark 50 years of Ireland in the EU.
In 1973, there were 68,713 births, compared with 57,540 births in 2022, a decline of 11,173 births (-19.4%) in 49 years. This represented a birth rate of 22.4 in 1973 while it was 11.3 in 2022.
Significantly, the number of births to teenage mothers continues to fall. In 1973, births to mothers under 20 years of age accounted for 3,048 of all births. In 2022, 798 teenagers had babies of which 19 were aged under the age of 16. The reverse is the case for mothers aged 40 and over. In 1973, there were 3,594 births to mothers aged over 40 years, while in 2022, this has increased to 5,129 such births.
The average age of first-time mothers in 2022 was 31.5 years, down 0.1 years from 2021 but up from 25.0 in 1973. The average age of mothers at maternity for all births registered in 2022 was 33.2 years, down 0.1 from 2021 and up from 29.0 in 1973. The average age of first-time mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 29.8 in 2022, an increase of 7.9 from 21.9 in 1973, while the average age of all mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 31.1 years in 2022, up from 22.4 in 1973.
The age of mothers has also changed over time. The average age of first-time mothers in 1973 was 25.0, but by 2022 this had risen to 31.5 years. Looking at the average age of all mothers at maternity for all births registered in 1973, we can see it was 29.0 in 1973, compared with 33.2 years in 2022. The average age of first-time mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 21.9 in 1973, and rose to 29.8 in 2022, while the average age of all mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 22.4 in 1973, and 31.1 years in 2022.
Further information can be found in the Vital Statistics Report 1973.
The number of maternities in 1973 which resulted in multiple live births was 845, consisting of 838 sets of twins and seven sets of triplets. This is equivalent to a "twinning rate" (number of live twins per 1,000 maternities which resulted in live births) of 12.4.
Over the years, the twinning rate has increased significantly – from 10.1 in 1981, to an all-time high of 19.0 in 2016.
The number of maternities in 2020 which resulted in live births was 55,790, including 1,013 sets of twins, 11 sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets. This is equivalent to a “twinning rate” of 18.2 (i.e. the number of sets of live twins per 1,000 maternities which resulted in live births).
