Fertility rate below level needed to replace population

The fertility rate in Ireland has dropped below the level required for the population to reproduce itself, according to statistics released for 2012.

The CSO Report on Vital Statistics said that the fertility rate in 2012 was 1.99 children per adult woman. The rate is the projected number of children that a woman of child-bearing years will have in her lifetime. A rate of 2.1 is generally considered to be the level at which the population would replace itself in the long run, if migration is ignored.

According to Eurostat the EU average rate is 1.58, although it has actually improved in the last 10 years.