THERE WERE 207 fewer babies born, or a 1.3% decrease in the birth rate, in the third quarter of 2018, compared with the same quarter the previous year.

According to the latest CSO figures, the 15,428 births during this period corresponds to a birth rate of 12.7 per 1,000 population, a decrease of 0.3% from the third quarter of 2017 (July – September, also known as Q3).

There were 7,956 male births and 7,472 female births in quarter 3 2018.

During the same quarter in 2018, there were 7,143 deaths: an increase of 2.2% (or 156 deaths) from Q3 2017. This equates to a death rate of 5.9 per 1,000 population, an increase of 0.1 points from Q3 2017.

There were 45 infant deaths registered in Q3 2018 giving an infant mortality rate of 2.9 per 1,000 live births.

CSO CSO

Age of mothers

The average age of first-time mothers was 31.1, up 0.2 years from the same period in the previous year. The average age of all mothers at maternity for births registered in Q3 2018 was 32.9 years, also up 0.2 years from Q3 2017.

The average age of first time mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 28.8, while the average age of all mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 30.3 years.

In the same quarter in 2017, the average age of mothers having their first baby outside marriage/civil partnership was 28.5 years while it was 30.1 years for all mothers for births registered outside of marriage/civil partnership.

In quarter 3 2018 there were 9,617 (62.3%) births registered as within marriage. None of these were within civil partnership.