Average age of mothers giving birth in Ireland highest since records began
Records Ireland Reached Highest Has The Since Average Began Its Mothers In Age Of Giving Birth
The average age of mothers giving birth in Ireland has reached its highest since records began.
And the number of births to women aged 40 and over has risen by one-third in the space of a decade.
The latest publication by the CSO on the nation’s “vital statistics” also found that the number of deaths due to cancer – the main cause of death in Ireland - rose 11.3% from the 10 years prior to 9,642.
The CSO’s data for 2021, the last year for which these statistics are yet available, covers a range of factors from the bookends of Irish life – birth and death.
In that year, there were 60,575 babies born in Ireland which was a 6.6% increase on the year before. This included 1,038 sets of twins and 16 sets of triplets.
The average age of mothers giving birth in 2021 was 33.3 years, the highest ever recorded since these figures were first collated in 1955.
Nearly six in ten (58.2%) births were within marriage or civil partnerships.
There were 710 babies born to teenagers this year, a decrease of 58% from 2011. There were 5,101 births to women aged 40 and over, a rise of 33.3% on ten years prior.
National Infertility Support and Information Group (NISIG) chairperson Caitríona Fitzpatrick said that her organisation would often support women who come forward in their mid-to-late 30s and early 40s who are seeking advice on fertility.
Ms Fitzpatrick said it can be stressful for those with fertility problems as they may have never given consideration to these issues until the time when they want to start a family.
“There have been great strides made in recent years. I get that there’s more of an awareness around age and having a family which is really important as options are better now.”
She cited the Government’s newly-introduced funding for IVF treatments in Ireland as a good yardstick of progress, but said the criteria to apply is “very restrictive”.
“It’s for under-40s only, for example,” she said. “It’s just kicked off so we’d see 2023 as an ‘initial step’ here. We need to see that criteria expanded in the coming years.”
Elsewhere, the CSO said that cancer (27.7%), diseases of the circulatory system (26.7%), and diseases of the respiratory system (9.2%) represented a majority of the deaths recorded. Covid-19 was also a significant factor in deaths recorded in 2021 and cited as the underlying cause in 9.1% of deaths.