Ireland saw baby boom in 2008
Ireland had the highest birth rate in Europe in 2008 according to the ESRI.
The Economic and Social Research Institute says there was a 5% increase in the number of births between 2007 and 2008.
There were 75,587 births in Ireland in 2008, according to the ESRI's Perinatal Statistics Report.
We had a birth rate of 17 per 1,000 population - the highest in Europe that year.
There was almost 1,200 sets of twins, 30 sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets.
Most of the mums were aged 31, a quarter of them were over 35 and first-time mums had an average age of 28.
A quarter of all babies were delivered by caesarean section, there were 158 home births and one in five births were to mothers born outside of Ireland.
The mortality rate was 6.8 per 1,000, and 30% of all neonatal deaths underwent a post mortem examination.
