The number of registered births decreased by 93 or 0.7% in Quarter 2 (Q2) 2024 to 13,354 births when compared with Q2 2023. There were 8,804 deaths registered in the same period, which was 55 more deaths (0.6%) when compared with the same period in 2023. Care should be taken when interpreting these figures. (See Statistician's Comment below for more detail).
In Q2 2024, the Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) for Ireland was 1.5 which was below the replacement level of 2.1. In Q2 2014, ten years ago, the TPFR stood at 1.9.
The average age of all mothers in Q2 2024 was 33.2 years, down from the 33.3 years recorded in Q2 2023.
Just under two in five (39.9%) births registered were outside marriage/civil partnership in Q2 2024.
The natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) was 4,550 in Q2 2024, which was down by 3.2% when compared with the same period in 2023.
There was an 11.4% increase in respiratory-related deaths in Q2 2024 in comparison with Q2 2023 (1,115 compared with 1,001).
Important Notice: Information on occurrence of births and deaths is only available for these life events which have been registered. Births are more likely to be registered in a timelier manner than deaths due to variations in reporting time requirements to the General Registers Office (GRO).
As such, birth and death occurrence statistics in this publication are provisional and subject to further revision as births and deaths continue to be registered. Statistics in more recent quarters are more likely to be subject to revision as more life events are registered.
There is an Information Note on the CSO’s website to clarify the availability of death notifications arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also explains the timing of the release of these statistics as death notifications in Ireland can be registered up to three months after the date of death.
An Information Note is also available outlining how the CSO assigns COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death.
From Q1 2023, the Vital Statistics quarterly publications provide an additional breakdown of registered births and deaths by occurrence by quarter. Prior to Q1 2023, all data was classified by quarter of registration. Please see Vital Statistics Q2 2024 Summary Results below.
Please note - all other statistics, bar those presented in the Vital Statistics Quarter 2 2024 Summary Results Table, are based off registration data and not occurrence data.
| 1A Vital Statistics by quarter of registration1 | Quarter 2 2024 | Quarter 2 2023 |
| Births | 13,354 | 13,447 |
| Deaths | 8,804 | 8,749 |
| Marriages | 5,359 | 5,560 |
| Natural increase | 4,550 | 4,698 |
| 1B Q2 2024 registered births and deaths by quarter of occurrence2 | Birth Occurrences | Death Occurrences |
| Quarter 2 2024 | 9,266 | 5,219 |
| Quarter 1 2024 | 3,960 | 2,386 |
| Quarter 4 2023 | 102 | 609 |
| Quarter 3 2023 | 19 | 310 |
| Quarter 2 2023 | 6 | 166 |
| 1C Births by quarter of registration and occurrence | Birth Registrations | Birth Occurrences (Provisional)3 |
| Quarter 2 2024 | 13,354 | 12,935 |
| Quarter 1 2024 | 13,482 | 13,010 |
| Quarter 4 2023 | 13,415 | 14,079 |
| Quarter 3 2023 | 13,848 | 14,032 |
| Quarter 2 2023 | 13,447 | 13,301 |
| Quarter 1 2023 | 13,968 | 13,101 |
| Quarter 4 2022 | 12,869 | 13,652 |
| Quarter 3 2022 | 14,091 | 14,179 |
| Quarter 2 2022 | 14,449 | 13,031 |
| 1D Deaths by quarter of registration and occurrence | Death Registrations | Death Occurrences (Provisional)4 |
| Quarter 2 2024 | 8,804 | 7,437 |
| Quarter 1 2024 | 9,564 | 9,029 |
| Quarter 4 2023 | 8,186 | 8,957 |
| Quarter 3 2023 | 8,319 | 8,060 |
| Quarter 2 2023 | 8,749 | 8,323 |
| Quarter 1 2023 | 10,205 | 9,579 |
| Quarter 4 2022 | 8,149 | 9,902 |
| Quarter 3 2022 | 8,467 | 8,243 |
| Quarter 2 2022 | 9,326 | 8,758 |
| 1 The number of Births and Deaths which were registered in the quarter. | ||
| 2 These figures show the quarter in which Births and Deaths registered in Q2 2024 occurred. This does not include births and deaths which are yet to be registered. | ||
| 3 Please note the occurrence figures relate to a point in time and are subject to change as further registrations are lodged with the General Registers Office (GRO). They do not include births and deaths which are yet to be registered. | ||
| 4 Please note the occurrence figures relate to a point in time and are subject to change as further registrations are lodged with the GRO. They do not include births and deaths which are yet to be registered. | ||
There were 13,354 births, 8,804 deaths and 5,359 marriages registered in Q2 2024. This represents a birth rate of 9.9, a death rate of 6.5 and a marriage rate of 4.0 per 1,000 population.
Figure 1 is an illustration of birth, death and marriage rates in Q2 for the last three years (Q2 2022 - Q2 2024).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 November 2024) published Vital Statistics Quarter 2 (Q2) 2024.
Commenting on the release, Seán O’Connor, Statistician in the Life Events and Demography Division, said:
"The CSO’s Vital Statistics release provides a snapshot of the life events (births, deaths and marriages) which were registered in April, May and June (Q2) 2024. Our Data chapter provides access to the open data available in our PxStat tables.
Registration vs Occurrence
Quarterly Vital Statistics releases provide figures on the number of births and deaths registered in the relevant quarter. Not all life events which are registered in a quarter occur in that particular quarter. For instance, of the 13,354 births which were registered in Q2 2024, 99.0% occurred in either Q2 2024 or Q1 2024. For deaths (8,804), only 86.4% of the deaths registered in Q2 2024 occurred in either Q2 2024 or Q1 2024.
Crude Birth and Death Rates
There were 13,354 births registered in Q2 2024, a minor decrease of 0.7% when compared with Q2 2023 registrations. This represented a birth rate of 9.9 per 1,000 population compared with 10 years earlier when the annual birth rate was 14.2 per 1,000 population in Q2 2014.
There were 8,804 deaths registered in Ireland in Q2 2024, which equated to a death rate of 6.5 per 1,000 population compared with 6.2 per 1,000 population in Q2 2014.
Fertility
The Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) is derived from the age-specific fertility rates in the current year. It represents the projected number of children a woman would have if she experienced current age-specific fertility rates while progressing from ages 15-49 years. A value of 2.1 is generally considered to be the level at which the population would replace itself in the long run, ignoring migration.
In Q2 2024 the TPFR for Ireland was 1.5 which was below the replacement level. In Q2 2014 the TPFR stood at 1.9.
Age of Mothers
The average age of a mother giving birth was 33.2 years for Q2 2024, down slightly from the 33.3 years recorded in Q2 2023.In Q2 2014, this figure was 32.3 years.
Deaths
There were 8,804 registered deaths in Ireland in Q2 2024, of which 4,615 were males and 4,189 were females.
Nearly two out of every three deaths (5,774 out of 8,804) registered in Q2 2024 were to those aged 75 years and over. Those aged 0 to 34 years accounted for 186 of the 8,804 registered deaths in Q2 2024 (2.1%). Of these deaths, more than 60% were male (117), while the remaining 69 were female.
Infant Deaths
The death of a live-born infant under the age of one is categorised as an infant death. There were 57 infant deaths registered in Q2 2024 giving an infant mortality rate of 4.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. Neonatal deaths are deaths of infants at ages under four weeks. There were 37 neonatal deaths registered in Q2 2024. The neonatal mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 2.8 in Q2 2024. In Q2 2014 this was 2.5.
Causes of Death
More than half of registered deaths in Q2 2024 were from either malignant neoplasms (2,587 or 29.4%) or diseases of the circulatory system (2,402 or 27.3%).
Deaths due to accidents, suicide and other external causes accounted for a further 353 or 4.0% of death registrations. Of these 353 deaths, 85 or 24.1% were classed as intentional self-harm. It should be noted that all deaths due to external causes are reported to the Coroner's Office for further investigation, therefore the number of registrations for any given period will likely underrepresent the number of deaths which have occurred due to accidents, suicide, or other external causes of mortality. Furthermore, late registered deaths (registered in 2024 but occurred before 2023) are not included in these overall figures but will be included in a supplementary table as part of the 2024 yearly summary.
Just over nine out of every ten deaths due to malignant neoplasms registered in Q2 2024 occurred to those aged 55 years and over, while for deaths relating to transport accidents nearly two out of every three (66.7%) registered deaths occurred to those aged under 55 years.
For those aged under 55 years, malignant neoplasms (222), external causes of injury & poisoning (175), and diseases of the circulatory system (104) accounted for 67.8% of the registered deaths for this age group.
For those aged 55 years and over, malignant neoplasms (2.365), diseases of the circulatory system (2,298), and diseases of the respiratory system (1,089) were the three most common causes of death accounting for seven out of ten deaths.
Deaths due to COVID-19 decreased by 61.7% from Q2 2023 to Q2 2024 (196 vs 75), while deaths due to Pneumonia rose from 209 to 245 (17.2%).
Marriages
There were 5,359 marriages registered in Q2 2024 (down from 5,560 in Q2 2023), of which 176 were same-sex marriages. The marriage rate in Q2 2024 was 4.0 marriages per 1,000 population.
Natural Increase
Looking at births and deaths together allows the calculation of the natural increase (births minus deaths). It provides a snapshot of how a population is evolving. Note the natural increase does not take account of migration (inward or outward). Nationally, the natural increase for Q2 2024 stood at 4,550 (births less deaths). This is a decrease of 3.2% compared with Q2 2023 and a fall of 51.1% compared with Q2 2014."