Dublin among European cities with highest fertility rates

Dublin has one of the highest overall fertility rates of European cities. It also has one of the highest rates of births to teenage mothers, a comparative study has found.

The data are in a report from the Megapoles Project, a three-year programme studying comparative health promotion and disease prevention in Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Dublin, Helsinki, Lazio-Rome, London, Lyons, Madrid, Oslo, Stockholm and Vienna.

It was presented by the chief executive officer of the Eastern Health Board, Mr Pat McLoughlin, at a conference on "Health Promotion in Primary Care" in Wexford yesterday.

The fertility rate, expressed in terms of the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, is 71 in Dublin, according to the report. This is almost twice that of Berlin, lowest in the study with a rate of 38.

Dublin also has one of the highest rates of births to teenage mothers, the study finds, with the age group 15-19 accounting for 21 per 1,000 of all births.

This is behind London with 23, but compares with a figure of four per 1,000 in Lazio-Rome, Lyons and Madrid.

Helsinki has the lowest number of annual road traffic deaths in the study, an average of 27 per 1,000.

Dublin has well over twice this number at 65, but is a long way behind Lisbon, worst of all the cities with 161.

Lisbon also heads the list for the incidence of tuberculosis, with 53 cases per 1,000 residents, compared with 12 in Dublin and five in Oslo.

Overall, Dublin's health status is "poor" compared with other EU capitals, Mr McLoughlin said, adding that the health of communities needed to be dealt with on a multi-agency basis.

The effort should be led by Government Departments and the health boards, he added, but should also involve local authorities, residents' associations, schools, chambers of commerce and sporting organisations.

"A focused group in a town could, for example, develop a physical activity strategy which would develop safe walkways and cycle lanes, and target groups who have reduced their level of physical exercise," he said.

He also called for the development of a Healthy Towns competition, similar to the one already established by the Tidy Towns movement.