Rates of births, marriages and adoptions continue to fall in Ireland [1] while the death rate increases.
The 2019 annual report of the Civil Registration Service, published on Tuesday, says there were 60,173 births in 2019, a drop of 1,728 on the 61,901 births registered during 2018, itself a decrease of 2.8 per cent on the 2017 figure. This steady decrease has continued from a peak in 2008, when more than 75,000 births were registered. Births registered in 2019 were a fifth less than in 2008.
In 2019, 20,335 marriages were registered in Ireland, a drop of 3.4 per cent on the 2018 figure and 7.7 per cent lower that the average for 2016-2018.
Meanwhile, Irish death rates continue to increase, with 32,084 registered in 2019. Of these, 52.5 per cent were male and 47.5 per cent female. Numbers dying in Ireland have shown a slight increase every year since 2016. In 2018 the figure was 31,232, in 2017 it was 31,385 and in 2016 it was 32,029.