Fertility rate falls below replacement level in Ireland
There were 13,665 births registered in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, a fall of 20.5% when compared with the 17,183 births registered in Q1 2015, CSO data shows.
There were 10,230 deaths registered in Q1, which was 666 more deaths (+7.0%) when compared with the same period in 2024.
In Q1 2025, the Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) for Ireland was 1.5, which was below the replacement level of 2.1.
In Q1 2015, ten years ago, the TPFR stood at 2.0.
The average age of all mothers in Q1 was 33.2 years – up from 32.5 years in the same quarter ten years ago.
Nearly four out of every ten (39.9%) births registered in Q1 were outside marriage or civil partnership.
Natural increase down 60%
The natural increase (births minus deaths) was 3,435 in Q1, which was down by 60% when compared with the same period in 2015.
More than half of registered deaths in Q1 were from either malignant neoplasms (cancer) at 2,873 (or 28.1%), or diseases of the circulatory system at 2,738 (or 26.8%).