Baby boom as Irish births reach highest level since 1982

IRELAND is in the middle of a baby boom, with the number of births the highest for 25 years.

Close to 80,000 babies were born here last year, figures from the Central Statistics Office show. That’s an increase of more than 6,000 on the 2006 figure, and the biggest number recorded since 1982.

The fertility rate has risen to 2.03 children per woman — the first time since 1991 that the rate has exceeded two children — but the most dramatic changes are in the number of older women giving birth.