THE AVERAGE age of women giving birth rose by a year between 2001 and 2010.
Vital statistics for the second quarter of last year, published by the Central Statistics Office, show the average age of women giving birth was 31.5.
This was 0.2 years more than in the same quarter of 2009, and a year older than in the corresponding period of 2001.
The average age of women having their first child in the second quarter of last year was 29.5.
Leitrim had the highest average age of mothers at first maternity, at 31.1 years old. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the highest average age overall of women giving birth, at 33.3.
Eleven babies were born to girls aged 15 and under. A total of 41 children were born to girls of 16 and there were 66 babies born to girls aged 17. Teenagers aged 19 gave birth to 231 babies during the second quarter. Overall, the number of births to women under 20 was down on the first quarter, to 493 compared to 534.
Women in the 30-34 age bracket accounted for the highest number of births, at 6,528. Those in the 34-39 age group accounted for the next highest number of births, with 4,454 babies born.
There were 877 babies born to women between 40 and 44, and 33 births to women over 45.
A total of 7,749 births (41.3 per cent) were to first-time mothers during the quarter. Second-time mothers had 6,121 births (32.6 per cent).
Some 18,844 births were registered in the three-month period, exactly the same number as in the second quarter of 2009.
This represents an annual birth rate of 16.9 per 1,000 of the population – fully 2.0 higher than in 2001.
Almost exactly a third of all births (32.9 per cent) in the second quarter last year were outside marriage.
There were slightly more boys born than girls – 5,448 compared to 5,404. The highest birthrate was in Fingal, with 21.8 births per 1,000 of the population.
Limerick city registered the lowest birthrate, at just 11.4. The Limerick city area also accounted for the highest number of births outside marriage, at 50 per cent of the 179 births in the quarter.
The number of marriages registered was 5,003, equivalent to an annual rate of 4.5 per 1,000 of the population. This was a drop of 0.3 on the corresponding period in 2009. The figure is some 10.4 per cent higher than in the same quarter of 2001, when 4,533 marriages were registered.
The CSO said the estimated population in April last year was 4,470,000. A census is due to take place on April 10th.