Births up in latter part of 2005
There were 16,170 births registered in the third quarter of 2005, up 565 on the same period in 2004, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said today.
The number is a 24% increase on 1996 when 13,015 babies were registered and represents an annual birth rate of 15.7 per 1,000 of the population.
A total of 6,548 births (40.7%) were to first-time mothers in the period. Second-time mothers had 5,162 births (32%). This compares to 4,999 (38.5%) first births registered in the third quarter of 1996.
A total of 5,101 births were registered as outside marriage in the third quarter of 2005, accounting for 31.5% of all births, a decrease of 1.2% on the same period in 2004.
The highest percentage of births outside marriage occurred in Limerick city at 53.3%, while the county with the lowest percentage was Roscommon at 17%.
The annual death rate, based on the period, was 6.2 per 1,000 population, 0.2 below quarter three, 2004. This rate is 1.8 per 1,000 population lower than in 1996.
