The natural increase in population in the third quarter of last year, that is births over deaths, was almost half what it had been ten years ago, according to the latest figures from the CSO.

Births exceeded deaths by 5,243 in Q3 2024, which was down by 48.6% when compared with the same period in 2014.

There were 39 fewer births registered in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2024 compared with Q3 2023, or a fall of 0.3% to 13,809 births.

The Total Period Fertility Rate (TPFR) was 1.5 which was below the replacement level of 2.1. That’s down significantly from ten years ago when the TPFR stood at 1.9.