Births, Deaths and Marriages in Quarter 3 2006

Average age of first-time mothers continues to rise

The average age of mothers having their first child was 28.7 years for births registered in Quarter 3 2006, an increase of 0.1 years on Quarter 3 2005. The average age for all mothers was 31.0 years, also 0.1 years higher than the corresponding Quarter 3 2005 figure.

These figures are contained in the Central Statistics Office's Vital Statistics Third Quarter 2006 report.

The average age at which women have their first child has risen by well over a year in the last decade and by over 3 years in the last three decades. In 1997 the average age of first-time mothers was 27.1 years, 1.6 years less than the most recent figure. In 1977 the average age of first-time mothers was only 25.0 years, 3.7 years less than the most recent figure.

There was a total of 6,891 first-time births in Quarter 3 2006. This included 952 first-time births to women over 35 and 540 first-time births to teenagers. See Table 3 of report.

The oldest first-time mothers were in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown with an average age of 30.9 years at first birth. The youngest first-time mothers were in Limerick City, with an average age of 24.6 years. See Table 4 of report.

Over two in five (41.6%) births were to first time mothers. Just under one-third of births (32.7%) were outside marriage. See Table 3 of report.

There were 16,920 births registered in quarter 3 2006, an increase of 750 on the quarter 3 2005 figure. This corresponds to a birth rate of 16 per 1,000 population.

The report also shows that 6,657 deaths were registered in quarter 3 2006, 277 more than quarter 3 2005. This works out as a death rate of 6.3 per 1,000 population.

Almost 4 in every 5 deaths were from either diseases of the circulatory system (35%), cancer (30%), or diseases of the respiratory system (13%). There were 2,318 deaths due to circulatory diseases (which include heart disease and stroke), 2,004 deaths due to cancer, and 870 deaths due to respiratory diseases. See Table 8 of report.

The natural increase (births minus deaths) for Quarter 3 2006 was 10,263, 473 higher than in quarter 3 2005.

There were 8,341 marriages registered in Quarter 3 2006, 121 more than in Quarter 3 2005.

Vital Statistics Third Quarter 2006 is priced at €6.00 and is available on our website www.cso.ie (PDF 135KB).

Hard copies available from the:

Central Statistics Office, Information Section, Skehard Road, Cork,

Government Publications Sales Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2,
or through any bookseller.

For more information contact Joseph Keating (LoCall 1890 313 414 ext 5121).
Internet address: http://www.cso.ie

18 April 2007

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