Record number of babies born to women aged over 44

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

There has been a record number of babies born to women aged 45 years and over in 2023, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said.

There were 408 babies born to women aged over 44 in 2023, up 80.5 per cent compared to 2013.

Ireland’s total period fertility rate for 2023 stood at 1.5, which is below the rate of 2.1 needed to replace the population; in 2013, the rate stood at 1.9.

There were 43 fewer births in Ireland in 2023 compared with 2022, but over the last decade, there has been a fall of over a fifth when compared with 2013.

There were 35,649 deaths in Ireland in 2023, representing an increase of 20.8 per cent in all deaths in Ireland since 2013, with an increase of 24.5 per cent in male deaths and 17 per cent for females.

The number of people who died aged 100 years and over in 2023 was 312, of which 61 were male and 251 were female.

Neoplasms, which can be benign or malignant cancerous growths accounted for the largest number of deaths in 2023 at 10,480, followed by deaths due to diseases of the circulatory system at 9,784 and 4,124 deaths from diseases of the respiratory system.