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Deaths are down, marriages are up ... And Dun Laoghaire still has the fewest unmarried mothers

In other news, very few people are being born in Leitrim.

THE LATEST STATS from the Central Statistics Office make for some interesting reading.

No, really…

The black & white data compiled by the folks in Swords tells us there were 605 fewer births between April and June this year, compared to the same period last year.

Less of us died in the three month period too… There were 7,197 deaths recorded in the second quarter of 2014 — a drop of 447 on the same period 12 months previously.

And while there was only a marginal increase in the number of marriages in the period, there was also a significant-enough rise in civil partnerships: 91 — 19 more than in 2013.

Almost 6,000 births were registered outside marriage/civil partnership over the three months — accounting for over a third of all births.

In its breakdown of those figures, the CSO tells us:

“The highest percentage of births outside marriage/civil partnership was in Limerick City at 58.2% and the lowest was in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown with 23.2%.

In the same quarter in 2013, there were 5,824 births registered as outside marriage/civil partnership accounting for 34% of all births.

Ten years ago — in the second quarter of 2004, 31.4 per cent of all births were registered outside marriage.

As you might imagine, the highest number of births registered was in Dublin City (1,846), followed by Cork county (1,500).

Leitrim had the lowest number — at 102  registered births over the three months. That’s even down on the same time last year, when the figure was 128.

Finally, the average age of first time mothers was 30.5 years, up just over three months on the same time last year.

Read: The same-sex marriage referendum will take place next May

Read: First Irish drug injecting centre planned for Dublin

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21 Comments
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    Mute mcgoo
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:49 PM

    A good cold winter is needed in Leitrim to drive birth rates.

    175
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    Mute Bernie Linnane McBride
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    Dec 16th 2014, 9:37 PM

    We have enough people here in Leitrim, thank you very much. Quality, not quantity, is what counts.

    38
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    Mute Kevin Denny
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    Dec 16th 2014, 9:46 PM

    But it must get lonely, just the two of you.

    62
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    Mute Leslie Skinner
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:27 PM

    Smarter girls,too cute to get caught.

    122
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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Dec 16th 2014, 10:27 PM

    Or maybe dumb and just too ugly to f*ck. ;)

    18
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    Mute Ryan Anth
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:18 PM

    I wonder if it would stay at 58% if they did not pay you more cash the more kids you popped out.

    107
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    Mute Marcus O'Connor
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:37 PM

    Yeah because the absence of any child benefit and the harrowing poverty in Latin America and Africa means that the concept of unmarried mothers is simply unheard of.
    It only happens in Ireland and the only reason is because obviously we give too much support to them.

    104
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    Mute Darren Turner
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:17 PM

    Dun Laoghaire has always been very modern

    94
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    Mute Aaron Brogan
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    Dec 16th 2014, 5:14 PM

    So there’s literally just one person born in Leitrim every day!

    64
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    Mute mcgoo
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    Dec 16th 2014, 6:22 PM

    A good place to be a midwife then…#cushynumber

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    Mute Aaron Brogan
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    Dec 16th 2014, 5:15 PM

    95% of all statistics are unreliable.

    47
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    Mute robscanlon
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:45 PM

    “Birth outside civil partnership”. Does it really matter as I feel the the other partner has no rights anyway under current legislation?

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    Mute Dave O'Hanlon
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    Dec 16th 2014, 6:26 PM

    So there’s bugger all bloody kids in Leitrim. off i go

    34
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    Mute ÉiRed
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:14 PM

    That’s brilliant. Hopefully someday no-one will die and death will be cured.

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    Mute CitizenSmith©
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:58 PM

    I always thought Cobh was the unmarried mothers capital of Europe

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    Mute John B. Reid
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    Dec 16th 2014, 8:53 PM

    We’re a (comparatively) sensible lot in Dun Laoghaire, it appears. People who wait until they get married before having children tend to become wealthier in the long run, and it is no wonder then that Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown is one of the wealthiest boroughs in Ireland per capita, with one of the largest populations.

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    Mute John
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    Dec 16th 2014, 9:23 PM

    Or in other words, opening your mind before you open your legs!!!!!

    19
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    Mute Marcus O'Connor
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    Dec 16th 2014, 9:28 PM

    Causation, correlation or coincidence? People who are wealthier also tend to to wait until they are married to have children, hence they are obviously also going to be wealthier in the long run. Better education, better jobs, greater increases in asset worth. When they have children doesn’t really have much to do with it as these are simply the habits of wealthy people rather than the habits that cause people to be wealthy.

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    Mute John
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    Dec 16th 2014, 7:48 PM

    58% of births in Limerick are outside of marriage, is that because there is a shortage of priests to officiate at weddings????

    12
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    Mute Niall B.
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    Dec 16th 2014, 5:55 PM

    Also has the most compliance in property tax…

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    Mute cosmological
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    Dec 16th 2014, 4:15 PM

    Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

    11
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