Number of teens having babies halves in 10 years

Marriages are up but births are down in the latest round of figures that give a statistical flavour of life and death in Ireland.

The CSO overview of 2013 shows there were 68,930 babies born here last year, nine fewer per day than in 2012 when the number was 72,225.

It means the fertility rate, now 1.96 children per woman, has fallen further from the 2.1 rate which is considered necessary for a population to replace itself without relying on migration to boost numbers.