Women are having children older, with a surge in over-45s giving birth – CSO

In 2024, a total of 613 women aged under 20 gave birth, which is a 50% decrease from the number in 2014. Picture: iStock

An increasingly large cohort of women in their 40s are having babies as Ireland's birth demographic continue to shift at the same time as population regeneration stagnates.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that 437 women aged 45 or over gave birth in 2024 — a 76.2% jump in comparison to 2014 levels. 

The trend was reversed on the opposite end of the spectrum: 613 women aged under 20 gave birth, a 50% decrease from a decade prior.

The average age of mothers increased from 32.4 years in 2014 to 33.3 years in 2024. Ireland’s overall birth rate stood at 9.9 births per 1,000 of the population, compared to 22.1 per 1,000.

While Ireland’s total period fertility rate of 1.5 (the average number of children a woman is projected to have over her lifetime) was the fourth highest in the EU, it was still substantially below the replacement level of 2.1.

The last year the fertility rate was above the replacement level was 2010.

“There were 1,337 fewer births in Ireland in 2024 compared with 2023 (-2.5%), and over the 10-year period from 2014 to 2024 the number of births has fallen by 14,106 births (-21%),” CSO statistician Seán O’Connor said.

"There was a 16.4% increase in births to mother's 40 years and over between 2014 (4,135) and 2024 (4,814)."

A recent study from the Economic and Social Research Institute found that there was an urgent need for investment in Ireland’s family care system as Ireland’s demographics tilt increasingly towards an older population.

Impact of immigration 

Other findings by the CSO showcased the impact of increased immigration in Ireland and the waning influence of the Catholic Church.

In 2024, more than 40% of children were born outside of an official civil partnership, compared to almost one in 25 in 1974.

Births to mothers of Irish nationality also decreased, dropping from 77.7% of all total births in 2014 down to 72% in 2024.

There were 35,676 deaths in Ireland in 2024, of which 18,700 were males and 16,976 were females.

Cancer was recorded as the leading cause of death, taking more than 10,699 lives. The number of cancer-related deaths increased by 15.8% from 2014, a figure roughly in line with the population increase over the same period.

Other leading causes of death included circulatory diseases (9,542), respiratory diseases (4,341), alongside accidents, suicides and other external causes (1,875).