More than half of births to Irish women under 30 occur outside marriage, new figures show.

There were just over 6,300 children born to women under 30 in the second quarter of last year, according to the latest Vital Statistics report from the CSO.

Of these, just over 3,700, or 57 per cent, were born outside marriage. This is higher than the percentage of non-marital births to US women under 30.

In the US, 53 per cent of births to women under 30 occur outside marriage.

There were 11,980 births to women over 30, with 9674, or 80.8pc born inside marriage, and 2306, or 19.2 per cent born outside marriage.

The age at which the number of children born inside marriage passes out births outside marriage is 27.

The figures also show that 47pc of births in Limerick were outside of marriage in the second quarter — the highest in the State. The lowest were in counties Galway and Cork, at 25pc. The national average is one in three.

The average age of mothers for births registered in the second quarter was 31.8 years.