Ireland had the largest ’natural’ population rise in EU last year

Ireland had the highest birth rate in the EU in 2016 and the joint lowest death rate, it has emerged.

According to statistics released by Eurostat to mark world population day there were 63,900 live births in Ireland in 2016, or 13.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, the highest birth rate in the EU and well above the average of 10 births per 1,000 inhabitants.