Cancer and circulatory disease the biggest causes of death in Ireland

Diseases of the circulatory system accounted for 1,807 deaths, or an annual rate of 1.4 per 1,000 population. File picture

The number of deaths in the second quarter of this year fell by almost 22% compared to the same period in 2020, with more than half being attributed to cancer and circulatory conditions such as heart disease.

That is one of the findings of the CSO report on vital statistics for April, May, and June this year. 

The reduction in deaths between the second quarter of this year and the same period last year coincides with mass Covid-19 vaccination, although the CSO did not make this correlation.

Ireland was in the midst of the first outbreak in the second quarter of 2020, and vaccinations were not announced as being ready until the tail end of last year.

The CSO said that there were 501 deaths due to Covid-19 in the second three-month block of the year, accounting for 7.5% of deaths in the quarter.

Cancer and circulatory disease were the biggest causes of death in Ireland during the period, accounting for 3,848, or more than 57%, compared to 4,531 or 52.8% in the second quarter of 2020.

Birth numbers continued to fall, the data show, while the average age of mothers has risen slightly.

Senior statistician Brian Ring said: "The number of births has fallen by 1,976, or 14.6%, from the same quarter in the previous year, down from 13,527 in quarter two 2020 to 11,551 in 2021.

"Births to teenage mothers also continue to fall, down from 188 in quarter two 2020 to 142 in the current quarter.

"The average age of mothers was 33.2 in Q2 2021, which is an increase of 0.1 years from that reported in the same quarter in 2020, while 10 years ago it was 31.8 years for the same period."

The highest number of births registered was in Dublin City with 1,265, or 11% of the total in the country, followed by Cork county with 1,046, or just over 9%. Leitrim saw the lowest with just 76.

The number of marriages registered during the quarter was 2,558, of which 88 were same-sex marriages, while the estimated overall population of the country was  5,011,460 in April of this year.

Examining causes of death in more detail, diseases of the circulatory system accounted for 1,807 deaths, or an annual rate of 1.4 per 1,000 population. 

Most were attributed to heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, a group of conditions that affect blood flow and the blood vessels in the brain.

There were 2,041 deaths from cancer, equivalent to an annual rate of 1.6 per 1,000 population.