Number of births decreased in third quarter of 2022

Kenneth Fox

The number of births decreased by 2,656 or 15.9 per cent in quarter 3 (Q3) of 2022 (July 1st-September 30th), according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

They said however due to the HSE cyber-attack in May 2021, General Register Offices (GRO) were closed meaning the registration of Births/Deaths/Marriages were not possible at that time.

This means the total Births/Deaths/Marriages registered in Q2 and Q3 2021 is not comparable with previous and/or subsequent quarters, and therefore, care should be taken when comparing Q3 2022 and Q3 2021 figures.

Births to mother's aged less than 20 increased from 188 in Q3 2021 to 209 in Q3 2022.

The average age of mothers was 33.2 in Q3 2022, which is similar with that reported in the same quarter in 2021, while 10 years ago the average age was 32.0 years for the same period.

More than two in five (42.8 per cent) of births were outside of marriage/civil partnership, compared with the same quarter a year earlier when 42.6 per cent of births were to mothers outside of marriage.

Ten years ago, in Q3 2012, this proportion was more than one in three (34.8 per cent) births.

The natural increase (births minus deaths) in Q3 2022 was 5,624, a decrease of 34.5 per cent on the same period in 2021 when it was 8,582."

In terms of deaths, during Q3 2022 there was an increase in deaths by 3.7 per cent or 302 deaths when compared with the same period in 2021.

There were 332 deaths due to Covid-19 in Q3 2022, accounting for 3.9 per cent of deaths in the quarter of which 177 were male and 155 were female.

Cancer and circulatory disease were the biggest causes of death in Ireland in Q3 2022 accounting for 4,865 (or 57.5 per cent) of deaths compared with 4,814 (or 59 per cent) in Q3 2021.