On 21 August 2026, at 14:30pm in the Statistician's Comment under Crude Birth and Death Rates the text was updated from '158 less' to '158 more'. No data has been changed. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
There were 13,823 births registered in Quarter 1 (Q1) 2026, an increase of 158 births when compared with Q1 2025. Over a longer time scale, this was a decrease of 2,657 births (-16.1%) when compared with the 16,480 births registered in Q1 2016.
There were 10,094 deaths registered in Q1 2026, 136 fewer deaths (1.3%) when compared with Q1 2025. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures (See Statistician's Comment below for more detail).
In Q1 2026, the Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) for Ireland was 1.5. This was below the replacement level of 2.1. In Q1 2016 the TPFR stood at 1.9.
The average age of a first-time mother was 32.0 years in Q1 2026 while it was 30.8 years in Q1 2016.
Almost four out of every ten (38.9%) births registered in Q1 2026 were outside of marriage/civil partnership.
The natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) was 3,729 in Q1 2026, a decrease of 52.6% when compared with the same period in 2016 (7,871).
More than half of registered deaths in Q1 2026 were either from malignant neoplasms (cancer) at 2,834 (28.1%), or diseases of the circulatory system at 2,681 (26.6%).
Important Notice: Information on occurrence of births and deaths is only available for these life events which have been registered. Births are more likely to be registered in a timelier manner than deaths due to variations in reporting time requirements to the General Registers Office (GRO).
As such, birth and death occurrence statistics in this release are provisional and subject to further revision as births and deaths continue to be registered. Statistics in more recent quarters are more likely to be subject to revision as more life events are registered.
From Q1 2023, the Vital Statistics quarterly releases provide an additional breakdown of registered births and deaths by occurrence by quarter. Prior to Q1 2023, all data was classified by quarter of registration. Please see Vital Statistics Q1 2026 Summary Results below.
Please note, all other statistics, bar those presented in the Vital Statistics Quarter 1 2026 Summary Results Table, are based on registration data and not occurrence data.
| 1A Vital Statistics by quarter of registration1 | Quarter 1 2026 | Quarter 1 2025 |
| Births | 13,823 | 13,665 |
| Deaths | 10,094 | 10,230 |
| Marriages | 3,013 | 3,133 |
| Natural increase | 3,729 | 3,435 |
| 1B Q1 2026 registered births and deaths by quarter of occurrence2 | Birth Occurrences | Death Occurrences |
| Quarter 1 2026 | 10,162 | 6,395 |
| Quarter 4 2025 | 3,585 | 2,839 |
| Quarter 3 2025 | 55 | 433 |
| Quarter 2 2025 | 12 | 255 |
| Quarter 1 2025 | 9 | 172 |
| 1C Births by quarter of registration and occurrence | Birth Registrations | Birth Occurrences (Provisional)3 |
| Quarter 1 2026 | 13,823 | 13,033 |
| Quarter 4 2025 | 13,118 | 13,758 |
| Quarter 3 2025 | 14,058 | 14,048 |
| Quarter 2 2025 | 13,284 | 13,225 |
| Quarter 1 2025 | 13,665 | 12,985 |
| Quarter 4 2024 | 13,417 | 13,476 |
| Quarter 3 2024 | 13,809 | 13,702 |
| Quarter 2 2024 | 13,354 | 12,980 |
| Quarter 1 2024 | 13,482 | 13,034 |
| 1D Deaths by quarter of registration and occurrence | Death Registrations | Death Occurrences (Provisional)3 |
| Quarter 1 2026 | 10,094 | 8,632 |
| Quarter 4 2025 | 8,345 | 8,902 |
| Quarter 3 2025 | 8,328 | 7,808 |
| Quarter 2 2025 | 8,684 | 8,081 |
| Quarter 1 2025 | 10,230 | 9,595 |
| Quarter 4 2024 | 8,239 | 9,127 |
| Quarter 3 2024 | 8,566 | 8,327 |
| Quarter 2 2024 | 8,804 | 8,458 |
| Quarter 1 2024 | 9,564 | 9,714 |
| 1 The number of Births and Deaths which were registered in the quarter. | ||
| 2 These figures show the quarter in which Births and Deaths registered in Q1 2026 occurred. This does not include births and deaths which are yet to be registered. | ||
| 3 Please note the occurrence figures relate to a point in time and are subject to change as further registrations are lodged with the GRO. They do not include births and deaths which are yet to be registered. | ||
There were 13,823 births, 10,094 deaths and 3,013 marriages registered in Q1 2026. This represents a birth rate of 10.1, a death rate of 7.4 and a marriage rate of 2.2 per 1,000 population.
Figure 1 is an illustration of birth, death and marriage rates in Q1 for the last three years (Q1 2024 - Q1 2026).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (21 August 2026) published Vital Statistics Quarter 1(Q1) 2026.
Commenting on the release, Seán O’Connor, Statistician in the Life Events and Demography Division, said: "The CSO’s Vital Statistics release provides a snapshot of the life events (births, deaths, and marriages) which were registered in January, February, and March (Q1) 2026. Our Data chapter provides access to the open data available in our PxStat tables.
Registration vs Occurrence
Quarterly Vital Statistics releases provide figures on the number of births and deaths registered in the relevant quarter. Not all life events which are registered in a quarter occurred in that particular quarter. For instance, of the 13,823 births which were registered in Q1 2026, 99.5% occurred in either Q1 2026 or Q4 2025. For deaths (10,094), 91.5% of the deaths registered in Q1 2026 occurred in either Q1 2026 or Q4 2025.
Crude Birth and Death Rates
There were 13,823 births registered in Q1 2026, which was 158 more than the number of births registered in Q1 2025. Compared with the same quarter in 2016, there were 2,657 fewer births or a fall of 16.1%. The birth rate was 10.1 per 1,000 population in Q1 2026 while 10 years earlier the birth rate was 13.9 per 1,000 population in Q1 2016.
There were 10,094 deaths registered in Ireland in Q1 2026, which equated to a death rate of 7.4 per 1,000 population compared with 7.3 per 1,000 population in Q1 2016.
Fertility and Age of Mothers
The Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) is derived from the age-specific fertility rates in the current year. It represents the projected number of children a woman would have if she experienced current age-specific fertility rates while progressing from ages 15 to 49 years. A value of 2.1 is generally considered to be the level at which the population would replace itself eventually, ignoring migration.
In Q1 2026 the TPFR for Ireland was 1.5 which was below the replacement level of 2.1. In Q1 2016 the TPFR was also below the replacement level as it was 1.9.
The average age of a mother giving birth was 33.4 years for Q1 2026. This figure was 32.7 years in Q1 2016. The average age of a first-time mother was 32.0 years in Q1 2026 while it was 30.8 years in Q1 2016.
Deaths
There were 10,094 registered deaths in Ireland in Q1 2026, of which 5,136 were males and 4,958 were females. There were 136 fewer deaths registered in Q1 2026 when compared with the same period in 2025 (1.3%).
Seven out of every ten deaths (7,073 out of 10,094) registered in Q1 2026 were to those aged 75 years and over. Those aged 0 to 34 years accounted for 140 of the 10,094 registered deaths in Q1 2026 or 1.4%.
Infant Deaths
The death of a live-born infant under the age of one is categorised as an infant death. There were 35 infant deaths registered in Q1 2026 giving an infant mortality rate of 2.5 deaths per 1,000 live births. In Q1 2016, the infant mortality rate was 3.8.
Neonatal deaths are deaths of infants at ages under four weeks. There were 29 neonatal deaths registered in Q1 2026. The neonatal mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 2.1 in Q1 2026. In Q1 2016, the neonatal rate was 2.7.
Causes of Death
More than half of registered deaths in Q1 2026 were from either malignant neoplasms (cancer) at 2,834 (28.1%), or diseases of the circulatory system at 2,681 (26.6%).
Deaths due to accidents, suicide, and other external causes accounted for a further 337 or 3.3% of total death registrations in Q1 2026. Of these 337 deaths, 77 or 22.8% were classed as intentional self-harm. It should be noted that all deaths due to external causes are reported to the Coroner's Office for further investigation, therefore the number of registrations for any given period will likely underrepresent the number of deaths which have occurred due to accidents, suicide, or other external causes of mortality. Furthermore, late registered deaths (registered in 2026 but occurred before 2025) are not included in these figures but will be included in a supplementary table as part of the 2026 yearly summary.
More than nine out of every ten deaths due to malignant neoplasms registered in Q1 2026 occurred among those aged 55 years and over, while six out of every ten (59.6%) deaths relating to accidental poisoning occurred to those aged under 55 years.
The three most common causes of death for those aged under 55 years were malignant neoplasms (207), external causes of injury & poisoning (115), and diseases of the circulatory system (108). When combined, these accounted for 68.1% of the registered deaths for this age group.
Malignant neoplasms (2,627), diseases of the circulatory system (2,573), and diseases of the respiratory system (1,438) were the three most common causes of death for those aged 55 years and over, and when combined accounted for seven out of ten deaths (70.1%).
Natural Increase
Looking at births and deaths together allows the calculation of the natural increase (births minus deaths). It provides a snapshot of how a population is evolving. Note the natural increase does not take account of migration (inward or outward). Nationally, the natural increase for Q1 2026 stood at 3,729 (births less deaths). This was an increase of 8.6% compared with Q1 2025 and a fall of 52.6% compared with Q1 2016.
Marriages
There were 3,013 marriages registered in Q1 2026, down from 3,133 in Q1 2025. Of these, 115 were same-sex marriages. The marriage rate in Q1 2026 was 2.2 marriages per 1,000 population."