There were 54,483 babies born in 2022, down 10.1% from 2021. This represented an annual birth rate of 10.5 per 1,000 of population compared to 15.6 per 1,000 population in 2012. Waterford City had the highest birth rate in 2022 of 12.4 per 1,000 population while Galway City had the lowest at 8.4. See PxStat table VSA38.
Looking back 30 and 50 years ago, in 1992 and 1972 respectively, the average age was 29.7 years and 29.1 years. In 2022, the average age of mothers giving birth was 33.2 years, which is a slight decrease in average age of mothers at maternity, compared to 2021 when it was 33.3 years. See Figure 1.1, Map 1.1 and PxStat table VSA105.
For European comparison on maternal average age see: Eurostat.
There were 781 babies born to teenagers in 2022, while 0.7% were to mothers aged 45 years and over. First-time mothers accounted for 21,943 or 40.3% of all births occurring in 2022. See PxStat table VSA36, Figure 1.2 and Figure 1.3.
For European comparison of maternal age please see: Eurostat.
A total of 21,943 births (40%) were to first time mothers in 2022. Second time mothers had 18,704 births (34%) and third time mothers had 9,189 births (17%). Mothers that already had three or more live-born children accounted for the remaining 8.5% of births. See Figure 1.4 and PxStat table VSA36.
Nearly six out of every ten births (57.1%) or 31,101 in Ireland in 2022 were born within marriage/civil partnerships, with the remaining 23,382 (42.9%) being born outside marriage/civil partnership. Focusing 30 years previous, in 1992, the share of births within marriage/civil partnership stood at 82%. The lowest ever number of births outside marriage/civil partnership was recorded in 1959 (1.6%). Since then there has been a steady increase in the percentage of births outside marriage/civil partnership, notably since 1980. See PxStat Tables VSA04 and VSA16.
In 2022, babies with a gestational age of 36-39 weeks represented the majority (60.9%) of births of known gestation. Babies with a gestational age of under 28 weeks represented the lowest percentage of births of known gestation at 0.4%. See PxStat tables VSA83 and VSA85.
In 2022, babies with a birthweight of between 3,000-3,499 grams and 3,500-3,999 grams accounted for the highest percentage of births of known birthweight at 33.9%. See PxStat tables VSA84 and VSA85.
While there were 300 domiciliary or home births in Ireland in 2022, which accounted for just 0.6% of total births. Regions such as Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown (1.3%), Wicklow (1.0%) and Cork County, (1.0%) amongst others recorded shares of domiciliary births which were greater than the national average. See Table 1.2 and PxStat table VSA103.
Births to mothers of Irish nationality accounted for roughly three-quarters (75.6%) of births in 2022. See Tables 1.3, 1.4 and PxStat table VSA91.
The number of maternities in 2022 which resulted in live births was 53,483 including 958 twin maternities and 11 triplet maternities. There were no sets of quadruplets. This is equivalent to a “twinning rate” of 17.9 (i.e. the number of sets of live twins per 1,000 maternities which resulted in live births). See Table 1.5 and PxStat table VSA90.
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 age 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 2022 the TPFR for Ireland was 1.5 which is below replacement level. In 2012 the TPFR stood at 2.0, and 50 years previous it was 3.9 in 1972. See Table 1.6 and PxStat table VSA104.
For European comparison see: Eurostat.
Homemakers was the common occupation for mothers who gave birth in 2022, accounting for 17.3% of births. This was followed by health professionals (11.0%) and teaching and education professionals (9.8%). See PxStat table VSB14.
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