A very high 41.5pc of births in the fourth quarter of 2021 were outside marriage, according the latest release from the CSO.

This figure is roughly the same as in the US and UK and marks a further decline in tandem with marriage and fertility rates.

The figures did show there were 16,250 births in quarter 4 2021, which was 2,666 births or 19.6% more than the same period in 2020 when Covid-19 arrived in Ireland.

Of those, 9,512 (58.5%) births registered as within marriage/civil partnership.

There were 6,738 births registered as outside marriage/civil partnership, accounting for 41.5% of all births in quarter 4 2021.

The average age of first time mothers was 31.8, up 0.4 years from that recorded for the same period in the previous year. The average age of all mothers at maternity for births registered in quarter 4 2021 was 33.4 years, which is up 0.1 years from that recorded in quarter 4 2020. The average age of first time mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 30.2, while the average age of all mothers outside marriage/civil partnership was 31.3 years. In the same quarter in 2020, the average age of mothers having their first baby outside marriage/civil partnership was 29.4 years while it was 30.9 years for all mothers for births registered outside of marriage/civil partnership.