There were 13,118 births registered in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2025, down by 299 births when compared with Q4 2024. Taking a longer view, this was 2,416 fewer births or a fall of 15.6% when compared with the 15,534 births registered in Q4 2015.
There were 8,345 deaths registered in Q4 2025, which was 106 more deaths (1.3%) when compared with the same period in 2024. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures (See Statistician's Comment below for more detail).
In Q4 2025, the Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) for Ireland was 1.4 which was below the replacement level of 2.1. In Q4 2015 the TPFR stood at 1.8.
The average age of all mothers in Q4 2025 was 33.5 years, up from the 32.5 years recorded in the same quarter 10 years ago in Q4 2015.
Nearly four out of every ten (37.5%) births registered in Q4 2025 were outside marriage/civil partnership.
The natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) was 4,773 in Q4 2025, which was down by 44.5% when compared with the same period in 2015 (8,602).
More than half of registered deaths in Q4 2025 were from either malignant neoplasms (cancer) at 2,552 (30.6%), or diseases of the circulatory system at 2,185 (26.2%).
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 Q4 2025 Summary Results below.
Please note, all other statistics, bar those presented in the Vital Statistics Quarter 4 2025 Summary Results Table, are based on registration data and not occurrence data.
| 1A Vital Statistics by quarter of registration1 | Quarter 4 2025 | Quarter 4 2024 |
| Births | 13,118 | 13,417 |
| Deaths | 8,345 | 8,239 |
| Marriages | 4,697 | 4,742 |
| Natural increase | 4,773 | 5,178 |
| 1B Q4 2025 registered births and deaths by quarter of occurrence2 | Birth Occurrences | Death Occurrences |
| Quarter 4 2025 | 10,119 | 5,454 |
| Quarter 3 2025 | 2,917 | 1,860 |
| Quarter 2 2025 | 50 | 370 |
| Quarter 1 2025 | 17 | 258 |
| Quarter 4 2024 | 8 | 180 |
| 1C Births by quarter of registration and occurrence | Birth Registrations | Birth Occurrences (Provisional)3 |
| Quarter 4 2025 | 13,118 | 13,738 |
| Quarter 3 2025 | 14,058 | 14,031 |
| Quarter 2 2025 | 13,284 | 13,216 |
| Quarter 1 2025 | 13,665 | 12,978 |
| Quarter 4 2024 | 13,417 | 13,474 |
| Quarter 3 2024 | 13,809 | 13,702 |
| Quarter 2 2024 | 13,354 | 12,977 |
| Quarter 1 2024 | 13,482 | 13,034 |
| Quarter 4 2023 | 13,415 | 14,085 |
| 1D Deaths by quarter of registration and occurrence | Death Registrations | Death Occurrences (Provisional)3 |
| Quarter 4 2025 | 8,345 | 8,521 |
| Quarter 3 2025 | 8,328 | 7,377 |
| Quarter 2 2025 | 8,684 | 7,844 |
| Quarter 1 2025 | 10,230 | 9,399 |
| Quarter 4 2024 | 8,239 | 8,995 |
| Quarter 3 2024 | 8,566 | 8,248 |
| Quarter 2 2024 | 8,804 | 8,399 |
| Quarter 1 2024 | 9,564 | 9,655 |
| Quarter 4 2023 | 8,186 | 9,308 |
| 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 Q4 2025 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 13,118 births, 8,345 deaths and 4,697 marriages registered in Q4 2025. This represents a birth rate of 9.6, a death rate of 6.1 and a marriage rate of 3.4 per 1,000 population.
Figure 1 is an illustration of birth, death and marriage rates in Q4 for the last three years (Q4 2023 - Q4 2025).
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (02 June 2026) published Vital Statistics Quarter 4 (Q4) 2025.
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 October, November, and December (Q4) 2025. 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 13,118 births which were registered in Q4 2025, 99.4% occurred in either Q4 2025 or Q3 2025. For deaths (8,345), only 87.6% of the deaths registered in Q4 2025 occurred in either Q4 2025 or Q3 2025.
Crude Birth and Death Rates
There were 13,118 births registered in Q4 2025, which was 299 less than the number of births registered in Q4 2024. Compared with the same quarter in 2015, there were 2,416 fewer births or a fall of 15.6%. The birth rate was 9.6 per 1,000 population in Q4 2025 while 10 years earlier the birth rate was 13.3 per 1,000 population in Q4 2015.
There were 8,345 deaths registered in Ireland in Q4 2025, which equated to a death rate of 6.1 per 1,000 population compared with 5.9 per 1,000 population in Q4 2015.
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 15-49 years. A value of 2.1 is generally considered to be the level at which the population would replace itself in the long run, ignoring migration.
In Q4 2025 the TPFR for Ireland was 1.4 which was below the replacement level of 2.1. In Q4 2015 the TPFR was also below the replacement level as it was 1.8.
The average age of a mother giving birth was 33.5 years for Q4 2025. This figure was 32.5 years in Q4 2015. The average age of a first-time mother was 32.0 years in Q4 2025 while it was 30.7 years in Q4 2015.
Deaths
There were 8,345 registered deaths in Ireland in Q4 2025, of which 4,402 were males and 3,943 were females. There were 106 more deaths registered in Q4 2025 when compared with the same period in 2024 (1.3%).
Around two-thirds of deaths (5,505 out of 8,345) registered in Q4 2025 were to those aged 75 years and over. Those aged 0 to 34 years accounted for 179 of the 8,345 registered deaths in Q4 2025 or 2.1%.
Infant Deaths
The death of a live-born infant under the age of one is categorised as an infant death. There were 42 infant deaths registered in Q4 2025 giving an infant mortality rate of 3.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Neonatal deaths are deaths of infants at ages under four weeks. There were 33 neonatal deaths registered in Q4 2025. The neonatal mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 2.5 in Q4 2025. In Q4 2015, the neonatal rate was 3.1.
Causes of Death
More than half of registered deaths in Q4 2025 were from either malignant neoplasms (cancer) at 2,552 (30.6%), or diseases of the circulatory system at 2,185 (26.2%).
Deaths due to accidents, suicide, and other external causes accounted for a further 422 or 5.1% of total death registrations. Of these 422 deaths, 115 or 27.3% 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 2025 but occurred before 2024) are not included in these figures but will be included in a supplementary table as part of the 2025 yearly summary.
More than nine out of every ten deaths due to malignant neoplasms registered in Q4 2025 occurred among those aged 55 years and over, while just under seven out of every ten (68.5%) 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 (206), external causes of injury & poisoning (180), and diseases of the circulatory system (108). When combined, these accounted for 69.3% of the registered deaths for this age group.
Malignant neoplasms (2,346), diseases of the circulatory system (2,077), and diseases of the respiratory system (929) 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 Q4 2025 stood at 4,773 (births less deaths). This was an decrease of 7.8% compared with Q4 2024 and a fall of 44.5% compared with Q4 2015.
Marriages
There were 4,697 marriages registered in Q4 2025, down from 4,742 in Q4 2024. Of these, 163 were same-sex marriages. The marriage rate in Q4 2025 was 3.4 marriages per 1,000 population."