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Fertility rates in Ireland: Why are more and more women deciding not to have a child?

National Women's Health Survey 2025: Women making the choice to delay or not to have children for economic, health, and social reasons, are affecting fertility rates

Bonnie O'Halloran: "I’ve not wanted kids for as long as I can remember. Being a woman, it’s said to you a lot — ‘when will you have kids?’ When you say you don’t want that, you’re told ‘you will when you’re older’. That didn’t happen for me."Picture: Moya Nolan — Bonnie O'Halloran: "I’ve not wanted kids for as long as I can remember. Being a woman, it’s said to you a lot — ‘when will you have kids?’ When you say you don’t want that, you’re told ‘you will when you’re older’. That didn’t happen for me."
Picture: Moya Nolan

Fri, 20 Jun, 2025 - 16:21

Helen O’Callaghan

A new National Women’s Health Survey, commissioned by the Irish Examiner and carried out by market researchers Ipsos B&A, found that, among women who are currently pregnant or who have had a child, one in five experienced fertility difficulties.

Four in five of these women sought medical advice in relation to their infertility or their partner’s, while 52% underwent fertility treatment such as IVF.

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