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General Summary 2019

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This report has been prepared by the Central Statistics Office for Social Protection in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 of the Vital Statistics and Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1952 and the Government Order (SI No. 831 of 2007).

The main statistics contained in this report have already been published, classified by year of registration, in the CSO's Quarterly and Yearly Summary Vital Statistics reports. This annual report provides additional information on the births and deaths that occurred in 2019. The year of occurrence data have been compiled from registration data for 2019 and 2020.

This report also includes information on registered stillbirths, (Chapter 4). This replaced the series on late foetal deaths compiled up to 1994. Registration of stillbirths became available following the introduction of the Stillbirths Registration Act 1994. This act was subsequently superseded by the Civil Registration Act 2004 (part 3 refers). The National Perinatal Reporting system (NPRS) also produces statistics on stillbirths, however the figures reported here are based on the number of stillbirths registered with the General Registry Office (GRO) which are available here http://www.hpo.ie/latest_hipe_nprs_reports/NPRS_2018/Perinatal_Statistics_Report_2018.pdf - 2018 is the most up to date data available at the time of this publication.

Live Births: 

There were 59,294 children born in Ireland during 2019, down 1,728 or 2.8% from 2018. 

The birth rate was 12.0 per 1,000 of the population in 2019 compared to 12.6 in 2018 and 16.7 in 2009.

The total period fertility rate (TPFR), or the average number of children per woman was 1.71 in 2019, that is 0.04 per thousand lower than in 2018, and below replacement level. A value of 2.1 is generally taken to be the level at which a generation would replace itself in the long run, ignoring migration.

In 2019, the highest number of births – 20,281 (34.2%) were to mothers in the 30-34 years age group, accounting for over a third of births.

In 1993 there was an important shift in the age structure of fertility. Prior to 1993, the age-specific fertility rate was highest among women aged 25-29. (The age-specific fertility rate is the number of births per woman within a specific age group). In 1993 the highest fertility rate shifted from that age group to women aged 30 to 34.

Mothers of non-Irish nationality accounted for 23.0% of births in 2019, slightly higher than the 22.9% in 2018.

In 2019, Tuesday 29th January saw the highest number of babies born in one single day (230). This was followed by Thursday 19th September with 222 births. The fewest number of babies born was on Christmas day (25 December) with only 81 births followed by St. Stephen's Day (26 December) with 85 births. 

Deaths:

There were 31,184 deaths in Ireland in 2019, of which 16,272 were male and 14,912 were female. This is equivalent to a rate of 6.3 deaths per 1,000 total population, 0.1 per thousand less than the 6.4 recorded in 2018. The crude death rate per 1,000 population has shown a gradual downward trend since the beginning of the last century with the most striking long-term falls occurring in the death rates at the younger ages.

Neoplasms, diseases of the circulatory system and diseases of the respiratory system were responsible for 72.9% of deaths.

Ranked in order, the next eight leading causes of death were mental and behavioural disorders; diseases of the nervous system; external causes of injury and poisoning; diseases of the digestive system; endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases; diseases of the genitourinary system; infectious and parasitic diseases; diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective.

The leading causes of death varied widely by age group in 2019.  Among young adults aged 15 to 24, external causes of injury and poisoning ranked first. Among individuals aged 45 to 74, neoplasms were the leading cause, while for those aged 75 and older, it was diseases of the circulatory system. See Deaths, Chapter 3.

Infant Mortality: 

During 2019 the number of deaths of infants under one year of age was 167 compared with 174 in 2018. The corresponding rate was 2.8 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019, down 0.1 from that recorded in 2018.

Stillbirths: 

The number of stillbirths registered during 2019 was 133 comparing with 2018. The respective corresponding rates for 2019 and 2018 was 2.2 per 1,000 live and stillborn children. See Chapter 4 2019.

Data in this report refers to Stillbirths registered under the Stillbirths Registration Act, 1994 and amended by sections 28 and 29 of the Civil Registration Act 2004.

Population: 

The estimated usual residence population in April 2019 was 4,921,496: 2,438,006 males and 2,483,490 female see Population Estimates

Usual residence population concept:

For the purpose of this Report 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 temporarily away from home and outside the State on census night. All persons are classified according to their region of usual residence.

Issue of Authority for Registration: 

Births and deaths (where no inquest has been held) which have not been registered within one year of their occurrence can be registered only on the authority of the Superintendent Registrars. The tables in the main body of this report exclude such births and deaths. The Appendix to the report contains an analysis of late death registrations in 2019 and of some deaths where an inquest has been held. The number of such deaths registered in 2019 was 956.

More up to date information on Vital Statistics is available in the Quarterly Report on Births, Deaths and Marriages published about five months after the end of the relevant quarter. In the Quarterly Report, births and deaths are classified according to quarter of registration.

Births are classified according to the area of residence of the mother and deaths according to the area of residence of the deceased. Births and deaths for each year since 1943 exclude late registrations; while deaths for each of the years 1940 to 1967 exclude non-residents. From 1968 however, the number of deaths includes non-residents.

For more detailed information and breakdowns in relation to births and deaths please go to: Births 2019 and Deaths 2019.

For long labels below use
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BirthsDeathsNatural Increase
2009755542838047174
2010751742796147213
2011740332845645577
2012716742918642488
2013689542950439450
2014672952925238043
2015655363012735409
2016638413066733174
2017618243041831406
2018610223114029882
2019592943118428110
For long labels below use
to display on multiple lines
BirthsDeathsNatural Increase
2009755542838047174
2010751742796147213
2011740332845645577
2012716742918642488
2013689542950439450
2014672952925238043
2015655363012735409
2016638413066733174
2017618243041831406
2018610223114029882
2019592943118428110

Natural Increase: 

The natural increase in the population (births minus deaths) for 2019 was 28,110. This represents a rate of 5.7 per 1,000 population, 0.5 less than in 2018. See table 1.4 and figure 1.1.

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Table 1.1 Estimated population in thousands in each year 1851 - 2019

Table 1.2 Estimated population (thousands) by gender and age-group, 2013 to 2019

Table 1.3 Population by sex, County and City according to the Census of population, 2016

Table 1.4 Births, deaths and natural increase and their rates per 1,000 population, 1864-2019

Table 1.5 Births and deaths by gender, 1864-2019

Table 1.6 Births and deaths by month and quarter of occurrence 2009-2019

Table 1.7 Births by date of occurrence, in each month during 2019

Table 1.8 Deaths by date of occurrence, in each month during 2019

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