Waterford City had the highest percentage of births outside marriage of any area in Ireland during the first three months of this year.
There were 99 more births than deaths in the county between January and March.
Figures released by the Central Statistics Office today show that Waterford City had the highest percentage of births outside marriage anywhere in Ireland between January and March.
380 babies were born in Waterford in the first three months of this year.
210 births were in County Waterford while 170 were in Waterford City.
59.4% of births in Waterford City were to parents who are not married, compared to a 43% average nationwide.
74% of births in Ireland between January and March were to first or second time mothers.
281 people in Waterford died in the first three months of this year.
20 of these deaths were attributed to dementia and Alzheimer's.
14 people in Waterford died of Covid-19 between January and March - while there were four infant and neonatal deaths.
Cancer remains the most common cause of death in Ireland, with 28.5% of all deaths in this period attributed to the disease.
National findings
- The number of births increased by 2,236 or 16.1% in Quarter 1 2022 (Q1) while there were 29 fewer deaths (0.3%) when compared with the same peiod in 2021.
- There were 641 deaths due to COVID-19 in Q1 2022, accounting for 6.7% of deaths in the quarter of which 359 were male and 282 were female.
- Cancer and circulatory disease were the biggest causes of death in Ireland in Q1 2022 accounting for 5,316 (or 55.8%) of deaths compared with 4,759 (or 49.8%) in Q1 2021.
- Average age of all mothers in Q1 2022 was 33.3 years, which is an increase of 0.2 years when compared with Q1 2021, while 10 years ago the average age was 31.8 years for the same period.
- More than two in five (43.6%) births were outside marriage/civil partnership.
- The natural increase (i.e. births minus deaths) has risen by 52.3% compared with the same period in 2021.
