New figures from the Central Statistics Office for the second quarter of 2024 show a fall in births and marriages, but a rise in deaths, on the same period last year.
The figures, released today, show a marginal decrease in the number of registered births, which were down 93 (0.7 percent) across April, May and June this year to 13,354 births.
In contrast, Q2 2023 saw 13,447 births, according to the CSO.
CSO Statistician in the Life Events and Demography Division, Seán O’Connor noted that the Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) for Ireland in Q2, 2024 was 1.5 which was below the replacement level of 2.1.
In Q2, 2014 the TPFR stood at 1.9.
Meanwhile, there were 8,804 deaths registered in the same period, which was 55 more deaths (0.6 percent) when compared with the same period in 2023 (8,749).
As a result, the natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) was 4,550 in Q2 2024, which was down by 3.2% when compared with the same period in 2023.
The number of marriages registered during the second quarter this year (5,359) was also down on the same span last year (5,560) – a fall of 201.