The birthrate in the second quarter of last year was up by some 40 per cent on 1999, with 60 more babies born every day than in that year, new figures show.
Some 19,027 births were registered in quarter two of 2008, an annual birth rate of 17.2 per 1,000 population.
This is an increase of 5,442 births (40 per cent) on the same period in 1999. The increase in the last year alone was 11 per cent.
The figures are contained in the Central Statistics Office's Vital Statistics Second Quarter 2008report.
Just less than 41 per cent of the total number of births were to first-time mothers. The average age of first-time mothers was 28.9 years, ranging from 26.4 years in Limerick city to 31.7 years in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown.
The greatest number of births was to women in the 30-34 age group. Some 6,525 children were born to women of that age group, compared to 4,486 babies born to women aged 25-29.
Women in the 20-24 age group gave birth to 2,238 babies, while there were 830 births registered to those in the 40-44 age group.
Thirty nine women in the 45 and over age group registered births in the quarter. Thirteen girls aged 15 and under also gave birth in the three-month period.
A total of 6,171 (32 per cent) of the births registered in the quarter were outside marriage. Of these, 3,346 (18 per cent of all births) were to unmarried parents with the same address, the CSO said.
There were 7,570 deaths registered in the quarter, an annual death rate of 6.8 per 1,000 population.
For those aged 65 and over, the annual death rate was 48.6 per 1,000 population, an improvement of almost 17 per cent since 1999, the report showed.
Over a third of all deaths were due to circulatory diseases (35 per cent), while 28 per cent died as a result of cancer. Some 13 per cent of deaths were due to respiratory diseases. Ninety infant deaths were registered - an infant mortality rate of 4.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The CSO said the natural increase in the population (births minus deaths) for the quarter was 11,457 - almost double the natural increase of 5,808 recorded in 1999.
A total of 5,370 marriages were registered in the quarter, an annual rate of 4.9 per 1,000 population.