Ireland's birth rate rises for first time in six years

The Central Statistics Office published new figures on Irish births for the first three months of 2014. The figures released show a significant rise in the number of births in Ireland.

The figures for January to March 2014 show a rise in the birth rate of 0.1 points from 15.4 from 15.3 from the same period last year.

The total number born was 17,699 in the first quarter of 2014 compared to 17,563 births in 2013.

This the first time the birth rate has risen since 2008, when the recession saw rates jump from 14.8 to 16.8 in two years.

The average age of first time mothers has continued to rise this year, with the average woman in Ireland being 30.5 years old having her first baby, up .3 of a year from 2013.

The average age of women giving birth overall was 32.3 years.

Another number which has risen this year is the number of women of Irish nationality giving birth, with 78.3% of babies born between January and March this year born to a mum of Irish nationality.

This is up from 75.7% in the same period last year.

The figures also reveal the breakdown of age and marital status for Irish mothers in the first quarter of this year, with 63.6% (11,252) of births registered as within a marriage.

36.4% of births were registered as outside a marriage or civil partnership, down slightly from 2013’s 36.5%. 8 births were registered as within a civil partnership.