Ireland has highest EU birth and fertility rate

ESRI figures out today show that almost 28% of women who gave birth in Ireland in 2010 were aged 35 or older, compared to just 22% of women in this age group who gave birth in 2001.

The perinatal statistics published by the research institute show that just under a third of births were to single mothers in 2010, up from 30% 10 years earlier.