More people in the Republic are getting married while at the same time more children are being born out of wedlock, according to figures released today by the Central Statistics Office.
The figures show the number of marriages in the first three months of 2003 rose by almost 50 per cent compared with 1994.
At the same time births outside marriage accounted for over 33 per cent of all births in the first quarter of 2003 compared with 20.4 per cent in 1994.
The county with the highest percentage of births outside marriage was Limerick with 50.6 per cent, while the county with the lowest percentage was Leitrim at with 20 per cent.
The figures from the CSO's "Vital Statistics for 2003" report also show a significant rise in the annual birth rate and a fall in the annual death rate.
There were 15,238 births registered in the first quarter of 2003, 7,824 males and 7,414 females, an increase of 266 on the figure for last year.
However, the figure is 26 per cent higher than in 1994 when 12,067 babies were registered.
This seems contrary to the trend in many other EU countries where sharp declines in annual birth rates have been observed.
There were 7,756 deaths registered in the first quarter of 2003, 3,931 males and 3,825 females. This represents a nine per cent fall when compared with 1994 when 8,551 deaths were registered.
The figures show there were 67 infant deaths in the first quarter of 2003, a decrease of six on 2002 and four per cent lower than 1994.
There were 6,259 deaths of persons aged 65 and over registered in the first three months of 2003, 11 per cent lower than in 1994 when 7,026 deaths were registered.
