Irish birth rate declining according to ESRI

The number of babies born in Ireland in 2012 was down 3.2 per cent on the year before.

However the country still boasts the highest birth rate across the 27 European Union states with 15.6 births per 1000 people. The average birth rate for the 27 EU countries is 10.4 per 1,000 population.

A total of 71,986 births were registered in Ireland last year.

New figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) also revealed that almost half of all babies born last year were breastfed.

While the figure - 47 per cent - remained unchanged from 2011, it was up from 41 per cent in 2003.

According to the data, from the think-tank’s Perinatal Statistics Report 2012, foreign-born women were almost twice as likely to breastfeed their babies than Irish women.

The breastfeeding rate was estimated at 40 per cent among babies born to Irish mothers, and 75 per cent among those born to women from Europe and America.

The number of home births across the country has dropped by a quarter over the last decade.

Among the babies registered, 176 were born at home in 2012 - down by 25 per cent from 236 in 2003.

There was also a reduction in the number of deaths among newborn babies - in both still births and live births.

It dropped slightly by 3 per cent from 2011 and by a more dramatic 31 per cent from 2003.

Meanwhile, the average age of women giving birth in 2012 was 31.9 years.

Just 2 per cent of women giving birth were aged under 20 years, while 30 per cent were over 35.