All figures in this report are classified by year of occurrence.
Deaths are classified to the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) International Classification of Diseases, Version 10 (ICD10).
The Underlying Cause of Death (UCOD) has been defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as
(a) the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death
or
(b) the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury.
From 1st January 2018 the CSO is using IRIS software to assign the UCOD. IRIS is a European developed automated coding software, endorsed by Eurostat and is maintained by the IRIS institute and all W.H.O. updates to the ICD-10 classification are included according to the WHO timelines.
Inquest deaths are coded manually due to the nature of the reporting of these cases. The difficulty lies in automatically assigning a verdict from a broad range of verdicts open to a Coroner or jury which include accidental death, misadventure, suicide, open verdict, natural causes (if so found at inquest) and in certain circumstances, unlawful killing.
The main maternal disease or condition affecting the foetus is assigned an ICD-10 code from the category (P00-P04) Foetus and newborn affected by maternal factors and by complications of pregnancy, labour and delivery. We also assign a main disease or condition in foetus to the ICD-10 code category (P05-P08) Disorders related to length of gestation and foetal growth where no other cause of perinatal mortality is reported. When both birth weight and gestational age are available and where no other cause of perinatal mortality is reported, priority of assignment is given to birth weight in line with WHO selection rules. See Tables 4.10, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15 and 4.16.
Birth and death rates are calculated using 2019 estimated usual residence census of population figures.
Usual Residence Population concept
From 2007 onwards, the population concept of usual residence has been used, i.e. all persons usually resident and present in the State on census night, plus absent persons who are usually resident in Ireland, but are temporarily away from home and outside the State on Census night. All persons are classified according to the region of their usual residence.
Prior to 2007 the de facto population concept was used, i.e. the total persons resident in the State on Census night.
Census of population data is used to calculate rates for Census years and estimated Census of population data is used to calculate rates for intercensal years.
In the 2016 Annual report the estimated population data used to calculate rates for births and deaths was revised for intercensal years 2012 to 2015. Consequently, this resulted in some revision of rates for these years.
From January 2018 onwards where births take place within the State and the area of residence of the mother is outside the State, the area of residence of the mother is recorded as outside the State. Prior to this, births where the mother was residing outside the State were assigned to the location where the birth took place within the State.
Table 2.19: From 2018, birth rates for both within and outside marriage/civil partnership have been removed from this for reasons of unreliability. This is due to the low sample numbers being captured, in particular for younger age groups in the Labour Force Survey.
The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) were created by Eurostat in order to define territorial units for the production of regional statistics across the European Union. In 2003 the NUTS classification was established within a legal framework (Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003).
As the administrative territorial breakdown of EU Member States is the basis of the NUTS classification, changes made under the 2014 Local Government Act prompted a revision to the Irish NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 Regions. These changes included the amalgamation of the local authorities of Tipperary North and South, Limerick City and County Councils and Waterford City and County Councils. In addition three Regional Assemblies were established (Northern & Western, Southern, Eastern & Midland).
The main changes at NUTS 3 level are the transfer of South Tipperary from the South-East into the Mid-West NUTS 3 region and the movement of Louth from the Border to the Mid-East NUTS 3 Region. There are now three NUTS 2 Regions which correspond to the Regional Assemblies established in the 2014 Local Government Act and are groupings of the new NUTS 3 Regions. The revisions made to the NUTS boundaries have been given legal status under Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2066. The new NUTS 2 and NUTS 3 structure and classification are displayed in the table below:
From the 1st January 2018 an Amendment of the Eurostat Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS classification) legislation came into effect. This reflects the new regional assembly structure and the other changes to the Local Government Act for Tipperary North, Tipperary South and Limerick and Waterford City and County Councils.
Up to December 2017 regional classifications were based on the classification used by Eurostat. The NUTS3 regions corresponded to eight Regional Authorities established under the Local Government Act, 1991 (Regional Authorities) (Establishment) Order, 1993, which came into operation on 1 January 1994. The NUTS2 regions, which were proposed by Government and agreed by Eurostat in 1999, are groupings of the NUTS3 regions. The composition of the regions is set out below.
| Northern and Western regions | Eastern and Midland regions | ||
| Border | Cavan | Dublin | Dublin City |
| Donegal | Dún Laoghlaire-Rathdown | ||
| Leitrim | Fingal | ||
| Monaghan | South Dublin | ||
| Sligo | Mid-East | Kildare | |
| Louth | |||
| West | Galway City | Meath | |
| Galway County | Wicklow | ||
| Mayo | Midland | Laois | |
| Roscommon | Longford | ||
| Offaly | |||
| Westmeath | |||
| Southern Regions | |||
| South-East | Carlow | Mid-West | Clare |
| Kilkenny | Tipperary | ||
| Waterford City and County | Limerick City and County | ||
| Wexford | South-West | Cork City | |
| Cork County | |||
| Kerry | |||
The United Kingdom withdrew from the EU on the 31 January 2020. From the 1 February 2020 the EU is reduced to 27 Member States.
As the United Kingdom was part of the EU for one month in 2020 - it is included as part of the EU 28 for quarter 1 2020.
Rates for Births, Deaths and Marriages were revised in quarter 4 2017 for intercensal years 2012 to 2015, based on revised estimated usual residence population data. Rates for 2016 were also revised based on updated Census of Population usual residence population figures.
This report contains upward revisions to previously published figures for the number of births occurring in 2008. These revisions were first published in the Report on Vital Statistics 2009.
The 1996 Annual Report contains revisions to the methodology used to calculate the twinning rate, This takes better account of multiple births in which a baby was stillborn.
Civil Partnership legislation was introduced in Ireland on the 1st January 2011. From 16th November 2015, when same-sex marriages legislation came into effect, same-sex couples no longer had the option to apply for a Civil Partnership. However, couples that had given the required 3 months' notice of a Civil Partnership prior to 16th November 2015 were still entitled to have a Civil Partnership ceremony after that date.
The Marriage Act 2015 (No. 35/2015) effective from the 16th November 2015 (S.I. 504/2015) refers, allows parties of the same sex to marry.
The Fourth Quarter and Yearly Summary publications from 2014 onwards are available in separate electronic publications on the CSO website . The quarterly publications (from Quarter 1, 2014) and the Yearly Summary publications (from 2014 onwards) are no longer available in hard copy.
For interactive tables, please go to CSO PxStat Births data and CSO PxStat Deaths data.
Tables can also be viewed in the Vital Statistics publication area see link
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