The Republic of Ireland had the highest fertility rate within the EU despite the fact that it has declined by nearly 40 per cent over the last two decades.
The latest report from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), Population and Labour Force Projections 2006 - 2036, published this morning shows that there were 61,500 births within the State last year representing a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.98. This compares with 74,000 births in 1980 representing a TFR of 3.23.
The report compares the total fertility rates in the 25 EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
As well as the Republic, countries with the highest fertility rates in 2002 included the Scandinavian and Benelux countries as well as France, the UK and Iceland.
The lowest fertility rates, which stood below 1.3 in 2002, included a number of the most recent EU accession countries such as Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Slovenia as well as a number of the Southern European countries such as Italy, Spain and Greece.
Life expectency for Irish men is expected to rise from the current 75.1 years to 82.47 years in 2036 and from 80.3 years to 86.86 years for women.
Meanwhile migration figures reveal a significant reduction in the number of immigrants since its peak of 41,000 in 2002. This figure dropped to about 32,000 this year.
The report projects that this figure would need to increase by over 10,000 annually over the next few years if the Republic is to sustain its economic growth.