THERE has been a steady decline in births over the past 16 years, figures issued by the Minister for Health show. In 1980 there were 74,064 births, which represented 21.8 per 1,000 of the population. Two years ago the number was down to 47,929, which was a rate of 13.4 per 1,000 of the population.
Mr Noonan, in a written reply to Mr Ball O'Keeffe (FF, Cork South Central), said the most recent set of population projections forecast a continuing decline in birth numbers, although at a less dramatic rate than occurred between 1980 and 1994.