Irish women are continuing to have babies at an older age, according to the latest vital statistics released by the Central Statistics Office.
The average age of a mother giving birth in the first quarter 2005 was 30.9 years compared to 30 years in the same period in 1996. The figure represents an increase of 0.2 years on the same period last year.
The average age of a mother giving birth in the first quarter 2005 was 30.9 years compared to 30 years in the same period in 1996
For mothers having their first child, the average age was 28.6 years.
The oldest mothers were in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, with an average age of 32.7 years. The youngest mothers were in Cork city, with an average age of 29.1 years.
There were 15,334 births registered in the first quarter of 2005. The order of birth show the pattern of smaller families is continuing as first-time and second births make up 72 per cent of all recorded births.
Just over one-third of births were outside marriage, but only 17 per cent of births to mothers aged between 30 and 34 occurred outside marriage.
The report also shows that 7,352 deaths were registered in the first quarter of 2005. Over four in every five deaths were from either heart diseases (38 per cent), cancer (26 per cent), or diseases of the respiratory system (17 per cent).
There were 2,909 marriages registered in the quarter, 233 more than in the same period in 2004.