Irish families get smaller as birth rate rises over last decade

THE country’s birth rate has increased slightly over a 10-year period, with a noticeable continuing trend towards smaller family units.

Almost 40% of children born in the second quarter of 2003 were to first-time mothers, with 28% to mothers with two or more children.

The changing make-up of Irish families was also reflected in the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office. Although the number of marriages over a 10-year period increased by nearly 20%, the number of births outside of marriage doubled over the past 10 years to almost 4,700.