Ireland’s birth rate is the highest in Europe with almost 72,000 babies born in one year, latest figures revealed today.
A new report showed the number of newborns delivered rose by 9 per cent in 2007, when one in five had mothers from outside Ireland.
Researchers found that 7.2 per cent of birth mothers were from the accession states and 3.6 per cent from Africa and Asia.
Professor Miriam Wiley, of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), said the high birth rate was partly down to Ireland’s economic strength at the time.
“We also had high inward migration of people coming here to work. Our population growth has been very substantial in recent years and a lot of the immigrants tended to be young and at the family formation stage,” she said.
The ESRI’s perinatal statistics report revealed that 71,963 births were registered in 2007. Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Office recorded 75,065 births the following year.
More than a quarter of live births were delivered by Caesarean section while there were 1,092 sets of twin births, 27 sets of triplets and 186 home births.
The average birth weight of a baby in 2007 was a healthy 3,465g (7.6lb), with 45 per cent of babies breastfed on discharge from hospital.
Prof Wiley said more needed to be done to encourage new mothers to breastfeed.
“We’ve been seeing a steady increase but the reality is that over half of all of babies born aren’t being breastfed,” she continued.
“It shows that we still have a lot to do in terms of facilitating and supporting mothers.”
Data showed the average age of women giving birth has steadily increased to 31.1 years, with 27 per cent aged 35 or older.
Just 3.5 per cent of new mothers were 19 or younger, compared with 6.2 per cent in 1999.
Elsewhere single mothers accounted for almost a third of all women giving birth.
PA