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THE DYNAMIC OF the typical Irish family is changing.
The latest data release by the Central Statistics Office, the number of mothers in their 40s, and the number of children born to unwed parents has increased significantly.
The average age of a mother who gave birth in Ireland has increased from 30.8 in 2004 to 32.5 in 2015.
The number of births to teenage mothers also fell to 1,199 in 2015, down from 2,406 in 2005 – a decrease of 50.2%.
In the 10 years since 2005, there’s been a 62.7% increase in the number of mothers in their 40s. In 2015, there were 4,000 births to mothers in their 40s, compared with 2,566 in 2005.
Over one in three of all births occurred outside of marriage or civil partnership in 2015. That’s a significant increase from 30 years earlier when that figure was just 8.5%.
Mothers under 30 accounted for 29.3% of births in 2015 compared with 2005, when mothers under 30 represented 38.9% of all births.
There were also 1,196 sets of twins, 31 sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets in 2015.
Over the past 25 years, the twinning rate has increased significantly – from a low of 11.7 in 1991, to a high of 18.7 in 2013 and down slightly to 18.6 in 2015.
There were a total of 65,536 births in Ireland in 2015, with 33,480 males and 32,056 females. That total has fallen by 12.8% since 2010.
Deaths
There were 30,127 deaths in Ireland in 2015, an increase of 875 on the 2014 figure.
Almost 30% of deaths attributed to malignant neoplasms, 31.1% of deaths were attributed to diseases of the circulatory system, while deaths from diseases of the respiratory system in 2015 accounted for 12.8% of all deaths.
The natural increase (births minus deaths) in 2015 was 35,409, a decrease of 6.9% on the 2014 figure. The natural increase 10 years previously in 2005 was 33,112, almost 6.5% less than the 2015 figure.
This headline was updated to clarify that 32.5 is the average age of mothers who gave birth in 2015.
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“The average age of a mother in Ireland is 32.5 years old”. Surely that should be “The average age of a woman giving birth in Ireland is 32.5 years old”. My mother and grandmother are mothers, but it’s a looooong time since either of those gave birth.
@GetAGripWouldYa: Send the tip to the author
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: how long have you been looking for Sorcha?
Not a good thing. Healthy pregnancy delayed due to debt commitments,
desires for material goods, huge house prices and rents and career pathways. It’s sad to see the brightest of our citizens having the least child while at the other end…
@Ranty McCrank: very true comment you’ve made there ..
@Ranty McCrank: Or the other side of that is it’s good to see people reach a point in their career where they can properly provide for their kid(s), have a home and bring a child into a more stable environment – I’m not saying all achieve this but this is usually the aim of people who hold off. Also, some of these people (of which I’m one), traveled a lot and experienced many things in thier 20′s that would have been hard to do with kids and are now happy to settle down in 30′s to family life without a longing to have done things in 20′s (again not saying this is everyone, i’m just talking broad generalisations).
The fertility and risk factors info most people cite is usually based off lazy media reporting and is highly over exaggerated. If you doing some searching you’ll find the original studies that basically say yes, fertility reduces between 30 – 40, but actually not by as much as you’d think and simply having sex a bit more brings chances up again. It drops off exponentially from 40′s onwards but from memory 40 – 42/43 is still not as bad as most would think.
I think the over-riding thing is everyone’s circumstances are different and there’s a lot more to raising children to consider than age. The thing that amazes me more are the people who don’t plan kids at all, have multiples and end up putting huge strain on their relationships usually due to financial worries…would be interesting to hear/read more debate on this topic than just fertility age.
@RogerRamjet: Sex too often came diminish the sperm supply, they have better quality and quantity when stored up. Once a week would be better than 4 times a week.
That said no amount of sex would get a woman pregnant is she isn’t ovulating.
The risk of Down syndrome also increases with a woman’s age.
Men can still be fertile when they are in their 70s.
Time isn’t really on the females side but certainly is on the males side.
@RogerRamjet: everyone’s circumstances are different but Mother Nature doesn’t differentiate no matter how that galls some women.
@jason bourne: yeah but the point is – the amount of people who trot out’having kids in your 30′s causes dramatic increases in fertility issues’..is simply not true. Mother nature still works fine in women’s 30′s.
@Ranty McCrank:
Yes let’s have more clever wealthy people out breeding the stupid poor ones.
Any information on average age of fathers? First time fathers? Teenage fathers?….
@1in10arelefties: wrong side of the bed this morning eh?
@Dervla NiNeil: exactly and any information on what the moon is made of or how high the tallest tree in Switzerland is?
@jason bourne: cheese….the moon is made of cheese…
With the benefit of hindsight I had my children when I was very young , it had its advantages in that I am still quite young and I am free to join the SKI club. Spending the Kids Inheritance .Now where did I put that holiday brochure..
I always swore I would never have a child after 30 due to the generation gap. I had my last at age 26.
Some older parents can be out of tune with the younger generation, they also seem to forget what they were like at that age. These two things I believe are very important in parenting.
@Lily:
Most people cant afford to have kids at 26 nowadays
@Lily: on the contrary I believe your 20′s are for living life and gaining experiences that you simply can’t do when you have kids. Besides most people are still living with their parents at 26 these days.
@DarkHorse: Or too busy having fun ! Pretty sure I was darkening the door of coppers three nights a week minimum at 26 ……
@Lily: well you are very lucky that the plan worked out for you. But others have life circumstances which mean that they have children later in life. I would also say that people having children at an ‘older’ age have more patience and life experience, thus making them good parents on a different level to youth and exuberance.
@Lily: Each to their own. However, it is important to remember that there are a lot of other factors to consider rather than just the ‘generation gap.’
@Deborah Blacoe:
Life experience?
I was fortunate enough to have met my husband when we were in our teens. To say we didn’t have any life experience wouldn’t be true. We went through hell. He had cancer in his mid twenties, our first born nearly died on a number of occasions due to life long health complications, was in and out of hospital, our youngest went through years of therapy for autistic like characteristics due to SSLD, yes we managed to buy a house in the boom, but we gladly sacrificed boozy nights out for family nights in. We put our kids first all of the time. Our eldest is now an adult. I’m not even 40 yet. I got plenty of life experience and I had bucket loads of patience and energy.
There was a reason for the old saying life begins at 40. We still are young enough to do some of things we missed out on, though to be honest getting drunk doesn’t appeal to me. Binge drinking and discos aren’t my thing. (Not sure what life experience you get from that but I can’t say it would add up too much!) But another couple of years we can travel the world together and have to money to do so. And I don’t mean roughing it by backpacking in Thailand or Australia.
Of course not everyone meets their partners young.
@DarkHorse:
Actually people had a lot less in past but still managed as kids were not indulged as much then.
@Deborah Blacoe:
The downside of that is that as you get older you have less energy and your kids are likely to be teenagers kicking off just around the time you are going through the menopause.
Also families can have great fun together.
@Lily: I am truly sorry that you had so many difficulties. And now it’s good that you have survived them and can enjoy your life. However, that is not the sort of experience I was alluding to, nor was I talking about binge drinking. I was simply referring to the benefits of wisdom. It is widely acknowledged that as we grow older we accrue the ability to be more patient and to make better decisions (financial and personal). Without a doubt, these are generalizations and there are exceptions. Some would also that they would prefer to enjoy travel etc while in their 20s rather than your preference. And that is what makes the world so interesting. Everyone is different and everyone has a different journey. No one has the only ‘correct’ way of doing things. I wish you happiness for your future.
@Aine O Connor: Yes, families can have great fun together at any age. What’s not to like?
@Deborah Blacoe: thank you,
I do know everyone has differences. As I said I was fortunate to have met my husband young. We too we fortunate to have our kids young at his cancer prevents her him from having any more.
That said we traveled, we went to Disney world Florida with the kids when we were 28. (We took our kids on honeymoon with us) We’ve taken them to Paris, Venice, Verona, Milan, marseille, Nimmes, st Raphael, isle de saint margarite, Cannes, Monaco, Carcasonne, argles sur mer, lanzarote, Mallorca, grindelwald, Interlarken, salou, cambrils, Barcelona and England/Wales and other places.
To say the least they are well traveled kids. Mainly due to my interest in history and lack of interest in the bar.
My husband always says if I was anymore laid back I would be horizontal. Just my personality really. At the end of the day it’s whatever floats your boat.
@Lily: Yes exactly Lily. Happy traveling.
@Lily: this is so ridiculous… you decide whether you’re out of touch or not. It’s nothing to do with age
@Lily:
You don’t half bleat on do you Lily
Plenty couples who married and had children in their twenties are going through seperations in their thirties. Theres a lot to be said for waiting until you’ve lived life a little, grown up and know exactly what you want and expect from a relationship before choosing someone to have children with.
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: I know couples who’ve had children in their 20s and theyre now in their late 30s and children are more or less raised. Couple still young enough to enjoy themselves. I also think the younger you are the more energy you have to raise your kids.
@Chris Martin: I’m 36 and expecting my first and am fitter than most twenty-somethings I know. I also have every intention of enjoying myself well into middle age and beyond. We’re talking about women in their 30′s here, not in their 50′s.
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: I waited till 37 to have my first, had my fun,got a degree (part time whilst working), good job, bought property all before and thank God because it was twins!! U never know!! Then went on to have Irish twins 3 yrs later! Still working full time!! Yawn!
@Karen Woods: ooh! Btw 41 having no. 3 and 42 having no. 4! (No.4 – six minute labour from 2 to 10)
Don’t do it … they grow up to be teenagers!!
Take out Jobstown and the average age skyrockets.
Assuming the “full time mammy” scroungers brought that average down a few years too to get their free house at 19 with their “full time mad b*astard” father living with them on the sly while both claiming welfare but doing nixers to afford their holliers to Ibiza with the girlos and boys to sip on Grey Goose in Ocean Beach in their booth with their LV manbags and Gucci flips.
…wow I am bitter.
The children are welcome în any family, but it is hard to rinse them. An old proverb says: ” who has ..to live, who do not..not to want.”
The children are welcome în any family..but it is hard to raise them. An old proverb says: ”who has..to live, who does not..want to”
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