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 2016 is final. Data for births and deaths for 2017 and 2018 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 2018, in order of popularity, with corresponding rank in 2017 | ||||||
| Boys' names | 2017 | 2018 | Girls' names | 2017 | 2018 | |
| Jack | 1 | 1 | Emily | 1 | 1 | |
| James | 2 | 2 | Grace | 3 | 2 | |
| Noah | 6 | 3 | Emma | 2 | 3 | |
| Conor | 4 | 4 | Sophie | 5 | 4 | |
| Daniel | 3 | 5 | Amelia | 3 | 5 | |
| Harry | 8 | 6 | Ella | 14 | 6 | |
| Luke | 7 | 7 | Ellie | 20 | 7 | |
| Michael | 10 | 8 | Mia | 8 | 7 | |
| Adam | 9 | 9 | Ava | 9 | 9 | |
| Charlie | 13 | 10 | Fiadh | 21 | 10 | |
| Liam | 15 | 11 | Hannah | 7 | 11 | |
| Thomas | 19 | 12 | Anna | 12 | 12 | |
| Seán | – | 13 | Lucy | 6 | 13 | |
| Fionn | 14 | 14 | Olivia | 11 | 14 | |
| Oisín | – | 15 | Lily | 13 | 15 | |
| Alex | 12 | 16 | Chloe | 10 | 16 | |
| Cillian | 16 | 17 | Aoife | 17 | 17 | |
| Finn | 23 | 18 | Kate | 16 | 17 | |
| Patrick | 17 | 18 | Sadie | 22 | 19 | |
| Tadhg | 28 | 20 | Saoirse | 15 | 20 | |
| Darragh | 17 | 21 | Sarah | 19 | 21 | |
| Jamie | 19 | 22 | Sophia | 18 | 22 | |
| Matthew | 26 | 23 | Holly | 27 | 23 | |
| Oliver | 30 | 24 | Robyn | 25 | 24 | |
| Ryan | 24 | 25 | Caoimhe | 23 | 25 | |
| Source: CSO | ||||||
Jack and Emily were the most popular babies' names in 2018. 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 eighth 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 again 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
Link to publication: Irish Babies' Names 2018
| Table 2.2 Births by age of mother at maternity from 2013 to 2018 and the number of previous liveborn children in 2018 | |||||||||||
| Age of mother at maternity | Previous number of liveborn children in 2018 | ||||||||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 or more | Not stated | |
| All ages | 68,954 | 67,295 | 65,536 | 63,841 | 62,053 | 61,016 | 23,508 | 21,159 | 10,679 | 5,670 | – |
| 15 and under | 28 | 25 | 38 | 24 | 19 | 22 | 22 | – | – | – | – |
| 16-19 | 1,352 | 1,201 | 1,161 | 1,077 | 1,022 | 958 | 826 | 119 | 11 | 2 | – |
| 20-24 | 6,390 | 5,955 | 5,705 | 5,217 | 5,143 | 5,057 | 3,121 | 1,427 | 395 | 114 | – |
| 25-29 | 13,903 | 13,126 | 12,322 | 11,357 | 10,886 | 10,428 | 4,902 | 3,420 | 1,378 | 728 | – |
| 30-34 | 25,385 | 24,662 | 23,684 | 23,012 | 21,762 | 20,934 | 8,554 | 7,542 | 3,231 | 1,607 | – |
| 35-39 | 17,892 | 18,191 | 18,451 | 18,775 | 18,979 | 18,947 | 4,888 | 7,098 | 4,599 | 2,362 | – |
| 40-44 | 3,778 | 3,887 | 3,955 | 4,079 | 3,933 | 4,343 | 1,069 | 1,456 | 1,021 | 797 | – |
| 45 and over | 226 | 248 | 220 | 300 | 309 | 327 | 126 | 97 | 44 | 60 | – |
| Source: CSO | |||||||||||
The number of births continue to decline. In 2018 there were 61,016 births. This compares to 68,954 in 2013, a decline of 7,938 births (-11.5%) in five years. Significantly, the number of births to teenagers continues to decrease. In 2018, there were 980 (1.6%) births to mothers under 20 years. Five years previously, births to mothers under 20 years of age accounted for 1,380 (2%) of all births. The reverse is the case for mothers aged over 40. In 2018, there were 4,670 (7.7%) births to mothers aged over 40 years. In 2013, this age-group accounted for 4,004 (5.8%) births. The majority of births in 2018, 44,667 (73.2%) were to first or second time mothers.
Interactive tables: StatBank link
Link to publication: Vital Statistics Yearly Summary 2018
| Table 2.3 Summary data for marriages 2017 and 2018 | |||||||
| Opposite-sex marriages | Same-sex marriages | All marriages | |||||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | ||
| Number of marriages | 21,262 | 20,389 | 759 | 664 | 22,021 | 21,053 | |
| Average age of party 11 | 36.1 | 36.4 | 43.4 | 42.2 | 36.3 | 36.6 | |
| Average age of party 22 | 34.1 | 34.4 | 37.4 | 36.8 | 34.2 | 34.5 | |
| Percentage of marriages by age of party1 | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Under 20 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | |
| 20-24 | 1.7 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 1.5 | |
| 25-29 | 15.9 | 14.7 | 6.7 | 7.8 | 15.6 | 14.5 | |
| 30-34 | 38.7 | 38.2 | 17.4 | 18.7 | 38.0 | 37.6 | |
| 35-39 | 21.9 | 22.4 | 20.6 | 27.1 | 21.8 | 22.5 | |
| 40 and over | 21.4 | 22.7 | 54.4 | 45.9 | 22.6 | 23.5 | |
| Percentage of marriages by age of party 2 | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Under 20 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | |
| 20-24 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 2.6 | |
| 25-29 | 24.0 | 22.6 | 19.2 | 20.6 | 23.8 | 22.6 | |
| 30-34 | 40.7 | 39.5 | 24.9 | 27.9 | 40.2 | 39.2 | |
| 35-39 | 17.2 | 18.5 | 19.6 | 17.9 | 17.3 | 18.5 | |
| 40 and over | 14.6 | 16.1 | 31.8 | 29.4 | 15.2 | 16.5 | |
| Form of ceremony | |||||||
| Roman Catholic | 11,219 | 10,027 | – | – | 11,219 | 10,027 | |
| Church of Ireland | 379 | 323 | – | – | 379 | 323 | |
| Presbyterian | 64 | 62 | – | – | 64 | 62 | |
| Methodist | 31 | 22 | – | – | 31 | 22 | |
| Jewish | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| Spiritualist Union of Ireland | 1,083 | 1,341 | 76 | 89 | 1,159 | 1,430 | |
| Other religious | 980 | 987 | 45 | 37 | 1,025 | 1,024 | |
| Civil marriages | 5,890 | 5,861 | 527 | 417 | 6,417 | 6,278 | |
| Humanist Association | 1,616 | 1,766 | 111 | 121 | 1,727 | 1,887 | |
| First-time marriages | |||||||
| Number of first-time marriages (both parties unmarried) | 18,556 | 17,789 | 570 | 542 | 19,126 | 18,331 | |
| 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 21,053 marriages in the State in 2018. This is 968 fewer than in 2017 when there were 22,021 marriages registered. Of these there were 20,389 opposite-sex marriages and 664 same-sex marriages.
The average age of marriage continues to rise for opposite-sex couples. The average age for grooms to wed in 2018 was 36.4 years while the average age for brides was 34.4 years. The average age of marriage for same-sex couples was higher at 42.2 years for party1 and 36.8 years for party 2, though these are slightly lower than the average age for same-sex marriages in 2017. There are fewer marriages to brides and grooms aged under 20 years in 2018 compared with 2017.
In 2018, 87.2% of opposite-sex marriages were first time unions for both bride and groom.
There was a total of 21,053 marriages in 2018. As can be seen from this pie-chart, the majority of these were Roman Catholic marriage ceremonies, followed by Civil marriage ceremonies. The remaining 22.6% consisted of Humanist ceremonies, Spiritualist Union of Ireland, Church of Ireland ceremonies and Other religious ceremonies.
Interactive tables: StatBank link
Link to release: Marriages 2018
| X-axis label | % |
|---|---|
| Other Religious | 5.3 |
| Church of Ireland | 1.5 |
| Roman Catholic | 47.6 |
| Civil Marriages | 29.8 |
| Humanist Association | 9.0 |
| Spiritualist Union of Ireland | 6.8 |
| Table 2.4 Deaths classified by cause from 2013 to 2018 with the male and female breakdown for 2018 | ||||||||
| Total deaths | Male | Female | ||||||
| Cause of death | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2018 | 2018 |
| Total deaths | 29,504 | 29,252 | 30,127 | 30,667 | 30,484 | 31,116 | 15,967 | 15,149 |
| Malignant neoplasms | 8,725 | 9,022 | 8,877 | 9,171 | 9,175 | 9,198 | 4,893 | 4,305 |
| Diseases of the circulatory system | 9,473 | 8,852 | 9,371 | 9,237 | 8,927 | 8,938 | 4,720 | 4,218 |
| Diseases of the respiratory system | 3,504 | 3,492 | 3,865 | 3,935 | 4,079 | 4,165 | 1,992 | 2,173 |
| External causes of injury and poisoning | 1,491 | 1,530 | 1,316 | 1,323 | 1,315 | 1,341 | 916 | 425 |
| of which: | ||||||||
| Suicide | 487 | 486 | 425 | 437 | 392 | 352 | 282 | 70 |
| Diseases of the digestive system | 1,069 | 1,040 | 966 | 1,055 | 1,059 | 1,100 | 583 | 517 |
| Infectious and parasitic diseases | 245 | 296 | 366 | 373 | 291 | 294 | 143 | 151 |
| Other | 4,997 | 5,020 | 5,366 | 5,573 | 5,638 | 6,080 | 2,720 | 3,360 |
| Source: CSO | ||||||||
There were 31,116 deaths in the State in 2018. Over half of all deaths, 58.3% (18,136) were due to either malignant neoplasms (cancer) or diseases of the circulatory system. This continues to be part on an on-going pattern. From 2013 to 2016 at least 60% of all deaths have been due to cancer and diseases of the circulatory system. In 2017, this was slightly less at 59.4%. 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) in 2018. However, there were more female deaths from infectious and parasitic diseases, and diseases of the respiratory system.
Interactive tables: StatBank link
Link to publication: Vital Statistics Yearly Summary 2018
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