The number of deaths in the Republic in 2005 was the lowest number recorded in the history of the State.
A new report today from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) attributes the drop in deaths to increasing life spans and the relatively high proportion of young people living in Ireland.
In all 28,260 people died in the State in 2005, a drop of 405 on the previous year.
Over three quarters of the deaths were from diseases of the circulatory system, which include heart disease and stroke, cancer or diseases of the respiratory system.
There were 10,149 deaths due to circulatory diseases, 7,749 deaths from cancer and 4,048 due to respiratory diseases.
Men accounted for 55 per cent of heart attack deaths while women accounted for 56 per cent of stroke deaths.
The most common types of cancer deaths among men were cancers of the lung and larynx, killing 990 men and prostate cancer which claimed the lives of 548 men.
In women the most common causes of cancer deaths were breast cancer, which killed 696 women, and cancers of the lung and larynx, which claimed 662 lives.
Meanwhile the report indicates there were 61,372 births recorded in the Republic in 2005, with births to teenagers continuing to decrease while births to older women continue to rise.
The birth rate among women aged 15 to 19 years was the lowest teenage birth rate since 1996 and the birth rate for women aged 35 to 39 years was the highest since 1982.
Almost one third of births in 2005 were outside marriage.
The figures are contained in the CSO's
Report on Vital Statistics 2005.