Nearly 60pc of births in Limerick city were to unmarried parents in the second quarter of this year, according to 
new figures from the CSO.
In addition, more than half of all births (52pc) in Waterford City were outside marriage, while just under half, or 49pc of all births in Cork City were outside marriage.
The latest Vital Statistics report [1], published today, shows that 58pc of all births in Limerick between April and June of 2012.
Overall in the country, there were 17,958 births in the second quarter of 2012, with 6,164 (34.3pc) births outside marriage.
This represented an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to the second quarter of last year and an increase of 2.6 percentage points on the second quarter of 2007.
The lowest percentage of births outside marriage was in Galway County at 23pc.
The average age of all mothers for births registered in the second quarter of 2012 was 31.9 years, 0.1 years more than the corresponding figure in the second quarter of last year.
The average age of mothers who gave birth outside of marriage was 28.9 years. This ranged from 26.7 years in Carlow to 31.1 years in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown.
In Dublin, the area with the highest rate of births outside marriage was South Dublin, where 43pc of births in the second quarter were to unmarried parents.
By contrast, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown had the lowest rate of births outside marriage in Dublin, with 25pc.
The number of marriages registered during the quarter was 5,421 equivalent to an annual marriage rate of 4.7 per 1,000 population, 0.3 per 1,000 population above the corresponding quarter of 2011.
There were 120 civil partnerships in the same period, down from 184 in the same period last year.