THE AVERAGE AGE of a first-time mother in Ireland has increased by around 14 months over the past decade.

Meanwhile, close to 40% of births now take place outside of marriage or a civil partnership.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) today released its ‘Vital Statistics’ report for the first quarter of the year.

This report provides a breakdown of registered births, deaths and marriages within a given quarter.

In Q1 of 2016, the average age of a first-time mother was 30.8 years, which has increased to 32 in the first quarter of 2026.

The CSO meanwhile found that the average age of a mother giving birth has also increased to 33.4 years, up from 32.7 a decade ago.

In all, there were some 13,823 births registered in Ireland in the first three months of this year, 158 fewer than over the same period a year previous.

However, it is 2,657 fewer births than a decade previous, a fall of 16.1%.

The birth rate was 10.1 per 1,000 population in Q1 2026, while in 2016 the birth rate was 13.9 per 1,000 population.

Of the births registered in the first quarter of the year, 38.9% were outside of marriage or a civil partnership.

Meanwhile, the “total period fertility rate” has fallen below the replacement level.

The total period fertility rate (TPFR) is the number of children that would be expected born to a woman in accordance with the fertility rates currently observed.

The TPFR in Q1 of this year was 1.5, below the replacement level of 2.1.

A decade ago, the TPFR stood at 1.9.

And while there were some 13,823 births registered, there were 10,094 deaths registered – a death rate similar to that of a decade ago.

However, there has been a sharp decrease in the “natural increase”.

When births exceed deaths, there is a “natural increase”.

This does not take account of migration and is intended to provide a “snapshot of how a population is evolving”, according to the CSO.

In Q1 of 2026, the natural increase was 3,729 – this is a decrease of 52.6% when compared with the same period in 2016, when this figure was 7,871.

Elsewhere, people aged 0 to 34 accounted for 140 of registered deaths in the first quarter of the year, with those aged 75 and over accounting for around 70% of registered deaths.

Close to 30% of registered deaths in Q1 were from cancer and over 25% from diseases of the circulatory system.

Meanwhile, there were some 3,013 marriages registered in Q1 2026, down from 3,133 the year previous.

Of the 2026 figure, 115 were same-sex marriages.