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There were 60,575 babies born in Ireland during 2021, up 6.6% or by 3,763 babies from 2020.
The average age of a mothers giving birth in Ireland in 2021 was 33.3 years, the highest average since the age of mothers was first recorded in 1955.
Of the 60,575 births which occurred in 2021, 30,982 were males and 29,593 were females.
In 2021, there were 1,038 sets of twins born in Ireland and 16 sets of triplets.
There were 34,844 deaths in Ireland in 2021, of which 18,296 were males and 16,548 were females.
Neoplasms accounted for the largest number of deaths in 2021 at 9,871, followed by deaths due to diseases of the circulatory system at 9,301 and 3,202 deaths from diseases of the respiratory system.
The number of deaths where COVID-19 was the Underlying Cause of Death in 2021 was 3,178, up 64.8% compared with 2020 when 1,928 deaths occurred.
There were 122 stillbirths registered in 2021 and 199 deaths of infants under one year of age.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (31 October 2023) released the Vital Statistics Annual Report for 2021.
Commenting on the Annual Report, Seán O’Connor, Statistician for Vital Statistics, said:
“The CSO’s 2021 Vital Statistics Annual Report, provides an abundance of information on both births and deaths across a range of different themes. Some of these include births by age of mother, period of gestation, and nationality. For deaths, information includes deaths by geography, sex, age, and detailed information relating to the underlying cause of death.
Crude Birth and Death Rates
There were 60,575 babies born in 2021, up 6.6% or by 3,763 babies from 2020. This represented an annual birth rate of 11.9 per 1,000 of population compared to 16.2 per 1,000 population in 2011.
There were 34,844 deaths in Ireland in 2021, which equates to an annual death rate of 6.9 per 1,000 of population compared to 6.2 per 1,000 of population in 2011.
Age of Mothers
Looking back 30 and 50 years ago, in 1991 and 1971 respectively, the average age of mothers was 29.6 years and 29.4 years. In 2021, the average age of mothers giving birth was 33.3 years, which is the highest average age of mothers at maternity, since this information was first recorded in 1955.
There were 710 babies born to teenagers in 2021, a decrease of 17.2% from 2020 when 857 babies were born. In 2021, 1.2% (710) births were to teenage mothers, while 0.5% were to mothers aged 45 years and over.
Births within Marriage/Civil Partnership
Nearly six out of every ten births (58.2%) or 35,261 in Ireland in 2021 were born within marriage/civil partnerships, with the remaining 25,314 (41.8%) being born outside marriage/civil partnership. Of the 2,622 births which occurred within Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, 71.7% of these were born within marriage/civil partnership. Limerick City was the region which had the lowest share of births within marriage at 44.6% or 334 of the 749 births in 2021.
Births to First-Time Mothers
First-time mothers accounted for 23,472 or 38.8% of all births occurring in 2021 while mothers that already had three or more live-born children made up 8.5% of all births. Within the State, Sligo recorded the region with the highest proportion of first-time mothers. Of the 783 births which occurred in 2021, 398 of these or 50.1% were first time mothers. This share was lowest in Longford (31.5%) and Waterford City (31.6%), respectively.
Births by Region and Nationality
The highest number of births in 2021, took place in Dublin City at 6,839 (11.3% of all births), while the Leitrim had the smallest number of births in the State at 412 (0.7% of all births).
Births to mothers of Irish nationality accounted for more than three-quarters (77.7%) of births in 2021.
Births by Location
While there were 362 domiciliary or home births in Ireland in 2021, which accounted for just 0.6% of total births, 60,213 births (or 99%) occurred in a hospital setting. Regions such as Wicklow (1.5%), Kerry (1.4%), Clare (1.3%) and 9 others recorded shares of domiciliary births which were greater than the national average.
Deaths
There were 34,844 deaths in Ireland in 2021, of which 18,296 were males and 16,548 were females. This equates to an annual death rate of 6.9 per 1,000 of population, an increase of 0.3 from 2020.
There were 28,592 deaths of persons aged 65 and over in 2021 and this accounts for more than four-fifths (82.1%) of all deaths in Ireland in 2021. There were 328 deaths of those aged 0 to 19, which accounted for 0.9% of all deaths in 2021.
Infant Deaths
The death of a live-born infant under the age of one is categorised as an infant death. There were 199 infant deaths in 2021 giving an infant mortality rate of 3.3 deaths per 1,000 live births, up 0.2 from 2020 when there were 178 infant deaths. Neonatal deaths are deaths of infants at ages under four weeks. There were 152 neonatal deaths in 2021, an increase of 18 on the 2020 figure. The neonatal mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 2.5 in 2021, an increase of 0.1 from 2020.
Most Common Causes of Death
Two in three deaths were from malignant neoplasms (9,642 or 27.7%), diseases of the circulatory system (9,301 or 26.7%) or diseases of the respiratory system (3,202 or 9.2%). The number of deaths where COVID-19 was identified as the Underlying Cause of Death (UCOD) in 2021 was 3,178 (or 9.1% of total deaths). Deaths due to accidents, suicide and other external causes accounted for a further 1,584 or 4.5% of all deaths in 2021.
For those over 50, the three most common causes of death were neoplasms (9,414), diseases of the circulatory system (9,003) and diseases of the respiratory system (3,167). For those under 50, deaths due to accidents, suicide, and other external causes (669), neoplasms (457) and diseases of the circulatory system (298) were the most common causes of death.
Deaths by Location
In terms of where people died in 2021, there were 13,720 deaths (39.4%) that occurred in general and orthopaedic hospitals, 9,719 (or 27.9%) were domiciliary deaths, and 6,066 (17.4%) deaths occurred in nursing homes.”