Two under-16s had second child last year, CSO finds

Two girls aged 15 or younger who had babies last year were already mothers of one child, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Girls under the age of consent gave birth to 224 babies in 2005. Some 42 births were to girls younger than 16 and of those, two girls had each previously had a child. The highest percentage of unmarried mothers were from Limerick city, with 56.1 per cent of all births.

A total of 2,427 teenagers had children last year, a decrease of 133 on the previous year. One of the teenagers, a 19-year-old, gave birth to her fourth child last year while a 17-year-old gave birth to her third child.

The population increased again last year to 4,130,700 from 4,043,800 in 2004, even though there were 642 fewer births. There were more than twice as many births as deaths in 2005, with 61,042 babies born and 27,441 deaths registered.

Birth rates for women over 35 continued to rise while births for women under 35 fell. There were 13,208 babies born to mothers aged 35 to 39 in 2005, 664 more than in 2004. The average age of mothers having their first child in 2005 was 28.7 while the average age of all mothers giving birth was 31. There were 74 births to women over 45.

Nearly one-third (32 per cent) off all births were outside marriage. The highest percentage of unmarried mothers were from Limerick city, with 56.1 per cent of all births taking place outside marriage. The lowest percentage of births outside marriage was in Roscommon where only 20.6 per cent of mothers were unmarried.

Limerick city is the only part of the State where births outside marriage exceed 50 per cent, and the percentage of births to unmarried mothers is far higher in Limerick city than anywhere else.

The area with the next highest percentage of births to unmarried mothers is Waterford city at 49.3 per cent. In Cork city unmarried mothers accounted for 47.8 per cent of births, and in Dublin city it was 45.5 per cent. Galway city had the lowest rate of all cities with 33.9 per cent.

The death rate is on the decrease with 710 fewer deaths last year than in 2004. The number of people living longer is increasing and fewer people over 65 are dying each year. Last year one in every 21 people over 65 died; in 2004 it was one in 20 while in 1996 one in every 16 people over the age of 65 died.

There were 431 recorded suicides last year, a decrease of 26 on the previous year. The number of suicides was greater than the number of people killed in car crashes, which stands at 399 for last year.

Almost four in every five deaths were from diseases of the circulatory system, cancer or diseases of the respiratory system.

There were 20,619 marriages and 3,433 divorces in 2005.