Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics

Photo: Two babies in a pram

• The number of births per 1,000 population in 1916 was 20.6 with the highest birth rate in Dublin City at 28.1.
• The lowest birth rates in 1916 were in Dublin County at 16.1 and in Carlow at 17.5.
• By 2012 the birth rate had fallen to 15.6 for Ireland and the highest rates were in Dublin County at 17.7, Kildare at 17.2 and Meath at 17.1.   The lowest birth rate in 2012 was 12.8 in Donegal.             

Photo: 3 children blowing bubbles

• Just 2.4% of births in 1916 were outside marriage.
• By 2012 over a third of births were outside marriage.
• The highest rates of births outside marriage in 2012 were in Dublin City, Waterford, Louth and Wexford where rates were over 40%.

Photo: Grave with children commissioned by Mr Medlycott, Portlaw 1913

• The infant mortality rate was 81.3 in Ireland in 1916, i.e., for every 1,000 babies born during 1916, 81 died before they reached twelve months of age. The infant mortality rate was highest in Dublin City at 153.5, followed by Dublin County at 102.2 and Limerick at 101.1.
• The lowest rates of infant mortality in 1916 were in Roscommon at 34.6, Leitrim at 45.9, Kerry at 51 and Mayo at 51.4. Presumably higher population densities in urban areas (such as in the one room tenements in Dublin City) contributed to the spread of diseases. Poverty was widespread in both urban and rural areas but the rural poor had access to fresh air and better quality food, for example, they could grow their own vegetables and get eggs from their own chickens.
• By 2014 the infant mortality rate in Ireland was very low, at 3.7 per 1,000 births.
• See here for a link to a 1911 Census return for Joseph and Ellen Mooney and their four children who lived in the Coombe in Dublin. Ellen stated on the Census return that she had given birth to nine children of whom four were still living. See here for the link to the page on the National Archives website for this Census return.

• There were 5,271 deaths in the area now covered by the Republic of Ireland of babies under 12 months of age in 1916 and the number of deaths for the whole island was 7,627. The data available from 1916 on the causes of deaths in infants under 12 month of age (shown in the table above) refers to the whole island of Ireland.
• The main cause recorded for deaths in babies less than one year old in 1916 was malnutrition and weakness which accounted for 2,056 deaths or 27% of the total on the island.
• Convulsions was stated as the reason or 892 infant deaths, or 11.7% of the total, while diarrheal diseases accounted for 886 deaths (11.6%).
• Premature birth was recorded in 9.4% of cases while Bronchitis was recorded in 8.6% of cases. Common infective diseases (measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, croup, whooping cough and influenza) accounted for 582 deaths of infants or 7.6% of the total.

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