MORE than four out of 10 women are having their first child outside of marriage, new figures show.And the statistics published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office also show that a third of all children were born outside marriage in 2006.
There were 65,425 births in 2006 – 33,655 males and 31,770 females, an increase of 4,053 on 2005 and the largest natural population increase since 1983 when there were 67,117 births.
The latest CSO Vital Statistics shows that the total number of births outside marriage was 21,397 in 2006, up 1,896 on the 2005 figure.
The lowest number of births outside marriage was recorded in 1959 when it was roughly 2%.
The highest percentage of births outside marriage occurred in Limerick city, at 57%, while Galway was the county with the lowest percentage at 21%.
While 44% of women are having their first child outside of marriage, the figure drops to 28.5% for a second child and to 20% for a third.
There were 2,335 births to teenage mothers – the lowest rate since 1995.
A total of 48 babies were born to mothers aged 15 and under, one of whom had previously given birth to another child.
Just under 40% of all the births were to mothers under the age of 30, compared with just over 60% of all births in 1975.
Birth rates increased in all other age categories, with the rate for women aged 35 to 39 and 40 to 44 being the highest since 1982 and 1987, respectively.
There were 293 babies born at home in 2006, compared to 264 in 2005.
Home births have dropped from one in three births in the early 1950s to only four in every 1,000 in 2006.
The statistics also show a significant decrease in the death rate for older people between 1996 and 2006.
The death rate for people between the age of 65 and 74 fell from 30 per 1,000 to 19 and for people aged between 75 to 84, it fell from 80 per 1,000 to 58.
Three-quarters of the 28,488 deaths in 2006 were caused by either diseases of the circulatory system, cancer or diseases of the respiratory system.
Men accounted for 55% of heart attack deaths, while women accounted for 60% of stroke deaths.
The most common type of cancer deaths among men were cancers of the lung and larynx and prostate cancer.
Breast cancer and cancers of the lung and larynx were the most common cancer deaths among women.
In 2006 the death rate for men of all ages from cancer was 20% above that for women.
Deaths due to injury and poisoning accounted for 1,664 deaths in 2006, or one in 17 of all deaths.
Over 70% of these deaths were men.
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