A majority of children of mothers aged 28 or less are born outside marriage, according to Central Statistics Office figures released on Friday.

According to the report, in the fourth quarter of 2012, 70pc of births to 25 year olds were outside marriage, 65pc to 26 year olds and 52 percent to 27 year old.
 
By age 28, 54.7pc of children were born to married parents, while 45.3pc of children born to mothers of that age are born outside marriage..

By age 29, 65.3pc of children are born to married parents.

Overall, there were 16,969 births in the fourth quarter of 2012, with 35.4pc of these, or 6,001 births outside marriage.

The highest percentage of births outside marriage in 2012 as a whole occurred in Limerick City at 56pc, while the lowest percentage occurred in Galway County at 22.7pc.

The average age of mothers for births registered in fourth quarter 4 2012 was 32.1 years, 0.3 years more than the corresponding figure in the fourth quarter of 2011.

In 2012 the Irish fertility rate was 2.01 children per woman and is just below replacement level of 2.1.

The number of marriages registered during 2012 was 21,245, equivalent to an annual marriage rate of 4.6 per 1,000 population, 0.3 per 1,000 population higher than in 2011.