A Third Of All Births In Ireland Outside Of Marriage

There were 18,787 births registered in the first quarter of 2009. This compares with the recent high of 19,154 in the first quarter of 2008, representing a decrease of just under 2%. These figures are contained in the Central Statistics Office's Vital Statistics First Quarter report.

Of the 18,787 births, 42% were to first time mothers, 39% to second time mothers and 17% to third time mothers. The average age of mothers was 31.2 years, ranging from 29.1 years in Limerick City to 33.0 in Dun Laoighaire Rathdown. The average age of mothers having their first child was 29.0 years.

There were 6,405 births (34% of all births) registered as outside of marriage in the first quarter of 2009. Of these, 3,354 (18% of all births) were to unmarried parents with the same address.

There were 8,419 deaths registered in the first quarter, an annual death rate of 7.6 per 1,000 population. The first quarter total is almost 12% higher than the same quarter in 2008 but 14% lower than the same quarter in 2000.

While there was a general increase in the number of deaths registered between the first quarter of 2008 and this year, male deaths increased significantly more than female deaths, 16% and 7% respectively.

For those aged 65 and over, the annual death rate was 56 per 1,000 population, an increase of almost 5 per 1,000 population on the first quarter of 2008 and a decrease of just over 20 per 1,000 population since the start of the decade.

Over one third of the 8,419 deaths were attributed to circulatory diseases (34%), while 28% were attributed to malignant neoplasms, 15% to respiratory diseases and 4% to external causes.

The number of suicides registered in the first quarter was 106, 9.6 per 100,000 population. Over 4 in 5 suicides were male. The number of suicides registered in the first quarter of 2008 was 74, 6.8 per 100,000 population.

There were 59 infant deaths registered in the first quarter, giving an infant mortality rate of 3.1 per 1,000 live births. The corresponding rate in 2008 was 3.3 per 1,000 live births and in 2000 6.1 per 1,000 live births.

The natural increase in the population (births minus deaths) for the first quarter was 10,368. This represents a rate of 9.4 per 1,000 population, 1.3 below quarter 1 of 2008.

There were 3,450 marriages registered in the first quarter, an annual rate of 3.1 per 1,000 population, 0.1 above the corresponding quarter of 2008.