This chapter contains statistics on births, marriages, deaths and babies' names which are compiled by the Central Statistics Office on behalf of the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Data for births and deaths up to 2015 is final. Data for births and deaths for 2016 and 2017 are provisional and subject to change. All marriage data and babies' names are final.
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| Table 2.1 Top 25 babies' names registered in 2017, in order of popularity, with corresponding rank in 2016 | ||||||
| Boys' names | 2016 | 2017 | Girls' names | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Jack | 2 | 1 | Emily | 1 | 1 | |
| James | 1 | 2 | Emma | 7 | 2 | |
| Daniel | 3 | 3 | Amelia | 5 | 3 | |
| Conor | 3 | 4 | Grace | 2 | 3 | |
| Sean | 5 | 5 | Sophie | 5 | 5 | |
| Noah | 6 | 6 | Lucy | 3 | 6 | |
| Luke | 10 | 7 | Hannah | 9 | 7 | |
| Harry | 11 | 8 | Mia | 8 | 8 | |
| Adam | 7 | 9 | Ava | 3 | 9 | |
| Michael | 9 | 10 | Chloe | 17 | 10 | |
| Oisin | 8 | 11 | Olivia | 13 | 11 | |
| Alex | 17 | 12 | Anna | 17 | 12 | |
| Charlie | 12 | 13 | Lily | 10 | 13 | |
| Fionn | 21 | 14 | Ella | 11 | 14 | |
| Liam | 14 | 15 | Saoirse | 12 | 15 | |
| Cillian | 22 | 16 | Kate | 14 | 16 | |
| Patrick | 18 | 17 | Aoife | 15 | 17 | |
| Darragh | 16 | 17 | Sophia | 22 | 18 | |
| Thomas | 15 | 19 | Sarah | 16 | 19 | |
| Jamie | 26 | 19 | Ellie | 20 | 20 | |
| Cian | 13 | 19 | Fiadh | 24 | 21 | |
| John | 25 | 22 | Sadie | 31 | 22 | |
| Finn | 20 | 23 | Caoimhe | 19 | 23 | |
| Ryan | 19 | 24 | Evie | 39 | 24 | |
| Rian | 31 | 25 | Robyn | 29 | 25 | |
| Source: CSO | ||||||
Jack and Emily were the most popular babies' names in 2017. Apart from 2016, when James pipped Jack to the top spot, Jack has been the number one boys' name since 2007. Prior to that he was number one in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005. However, he only came to fame in 1989 when he first made it into the top 100 boys' names. He quickly moved up the ranks and has been in the top 10 since 1997.
This is the seventh consecutive year that Emily has been the number one name for girls' names. Emily first appeared in the top 100 girls' names in 1979 and continued to feature in this list until 1985. She re-emerged in 1988 and has remained there since. It took her until 2007 to get into the top 10 girls' names, but she is retaining her popularity more than any other girls' name in recent years. Only beaten in the past by Mary who had top place from 1964 to 1982, and later by Sarah who took her place from 1983 to 1997 inclusive, and again in 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007. (Our historic records of forenames date back to 1964)
Interactive zone visualisation tool: How popular is your name?
Interactive tables: StatBank link
| Table 2.2 Summary data for marriages 2016 and 2017 | ||||||
| Opposite-sex marriages | Same-sex marriages | All marriages | ||||
| 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | |
| Number of marriages | 21,570 | 21,262 | 1,056 | 759 | 22,626 | 22,021 |
| Average age of party 11 | 35.7 | 36.1 | 43.6 | 43.4 | 36.1 | 36.3 |
| Average age of party 22 | 33.8 | 34.1 | 37.9 | 37.4 | 34.0 | 34.2 |
| Percentage of marriages by age of party1 | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| Under 20 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| 20-24 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
| 25-29 | 16.2 | 15.9 | 8.1 | 6.7 | 15.8 | 15.6 |
| 30-34 | 39.6 | 38.7 | 16.8 | 17.4 | 38.6 | 38.0 |
| 35-39 | 22.3 | 21.9 | 18.0 | 20.6 | 22.1 | 21.8 |
| 40 and over | 19.5 | 21.4 | 55.9 | 54.4 | 21.2 | 22.6 |
| Percentage of marriages by age of party2 | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| Under 20 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| 20-24 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 5.8 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 2.8 |
| 25-29 | 25.3 | 24.0 | 16.6 | 19.2 | 24.9 | 23.8 |
| 30-34 | 40.8 | 40.7 | 24.0 | 24.9 | 40.0 | 40.2 |
| 35-39 | 17.0 | 17.2 | 16.3 | 19.6 | 17.0 | 17.3 |
| 40 and over | 13.3 | 14.6 | 37.2 | 31.8 | 14.4 | 15.2 |
| Form of ceremony | ||||||
| Roman Catholic | 12,140 | 11,219 | – | – | 12,140 | 11,219 |
| Church of Ireland | 372 | 379 | – | – | 372 | 379 |
| Presbyterian | 69 | 64 | – | – | 69 | 64 |
| Methodist | 27 | 31 | – | – | 27 | 31 |
| Jewish | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Spiritualist Union of Ireland | 965 | 1,083 | 73 | 76 | 1,038 | 1,159 |
| Other religious | 972 | 980 | 36 | 45 | 1,008 | 1,025 |
| Civil marriages ceremonies | 5,588 | 5,890 | 850 | 527 | 6,438 | 6,417 |
| Humanist Association | 1,437 | 1,616 | 97 | 111 | 1,534 | 1,727 |
| First-time marriages | ||||||
| Number of first-time marriages (both parties unmarried) | 18,934 | 18,556 | 565 | 570 | 19,499 | 19,126 |
| 1Party 1 refers to the groom in the case of opposite-sex marriages and refers to the older party in the case of same-sex marriages. | ||||||
| 2Party 2 refers to the bride in the case of opposite-sex marriages and refers to the younger party in the case of same-sex marriages. | ||||||
| Source:CSO | ||||||
There were 22,021 marriages in the State in 2017, slightly less than in 2016 when there were 22,626 marriages registered. Of these there were 21,262 opposite-sex marriages and 759 same-sex marriages.
The average age of marriage continues to rise for opposite-sex couples. The average age for grooms to wed in 2017 was 36.1 years while the average age for brides was 34.1 years. The average age of marriage for same-sex couples was higher at 43.4 years for party 1 and 37.4 years for party 2, though these are slightly lower than the average age for same-sex marriages in 2016. There are fewer marriages to couples aged under 20 years in 2017 compared with 2016.
The most popular choice of ceremony for opposite-sex marriages was Roman Catholic, with 11,219 couples choosing this option in 2017. Civil marriage was the next most popular choice of ceremony, with 5,890 such marriages. The most popular form of ceremony for same-sex marriages was a civil marriage ceremony which accounted for 527 marriages (69.4%) followed by The Humanist Association of Ireland with 111 ceremonies (14.6%). There were 76 (10%) Spiritualist Union of Ireland ceremonies while the remainder of couples (5.9%) chose other religious ceremonies.
This was the first marriage for both the bride and groom in 87.3% of marriages in 2017.
Interactive tables: StatBank link
There was a total of 22,021 marriages in 2017. As can be seen from this pie-chart, the majority of these were Catholic marriage ceremonies, followed by civil marriage ceremonies. The remaining 20% consisted of Humanist ceremonies, Spiritualist Union of Ireland, Church of Ireland ceremonies and other religious ceremonies.
| X-axis label | % |
|---|---|
| Other Religious | 5.08605422097089 |
| Church of Ireland | 1.72108441941783 |
| Roman Catholic | 50.9468234866718 |
| Civil Marriages | 29.1403660142591 |
| Humanist Association | 7.84251396394351 |
| Spiritualist Union of Ireland | 5.26315789473684 |
| Table 2.3 Deaths classified by cause from 2012 to 2017 and by sex 2017 | ||||||||
| Total deaths | Male | Female | ||||||
| Cause of death | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2017 | 2017 |
| Total deaths | 29,186 | 29,504 | 29,252 | 30,127 | 30,390 | 30,484 | 15,497 | 14,987 |
| Infectious and parasitic diseases | 223 | 245 | 296 | 366 | 379 | 291 | 124 | 167 |
| Malignant neoplasms | 8,571 | 8,725 | 9,022 | 8,877 | 9,023 | 9,175 | 4,874 | 4,301 |
| Diseases of the circulatory system | 9,480 | 9,473 | 8,852 | 9,371 | 9,206 | 8,927 | 4,589 | 4,338 |
| Diseases of the respiratory system | 3,497 | 3,504 | 3,492 | 3,865 | 3,856 | 4,079 | 1,946 | 2,133 |
| Diseases of the digestive system | 1,158 | 1,069 | 1,040 | 966 | 1,027 | 1,059 | 553 | 506 |
| External causes of injury and poisoning | 1,577 | 1,491 | 1,530 | 1,316 | 1,344 | 1,315 | 930 | 385 |
| of which: | ||||||||
| Suicide | 541 | 487 | 486 | 425 | 399 | 392 | 312 | 80 |
| Other | 4,680 | 4,997 | 5,020 | 5,366 | 5,555 | 5,638 | 2,481 | 3,157 |
| Source: CSO | ||||||||
There were 30,484 deaths in the State in 2017. Almost three fifths of these, (18,102 ) were due to either malignant neoplasms (cancer) or diseases of the circulatory system. This continues to be part on an on-going trend. From 2012 to 2016 at least 60% of all deaths have been due to cancer and diseases of the circulatory ststem. In 2017, there were more male than female deaths from malignant neoplasms, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the digestive system and external causes (which include accidents and suicides). However, there were more female deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases and diseases of the respiratory system.
Interactive tables: StatBank link
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