IRELAND RECORDED ITS lowest rate of teenage births in 50 years in 2011, the Central Statistics Office has said.
According to new figures from the CSO, just 2.3 per cent of all births, or 1,690, were to teenage girls. That is compared with 6.2 per cent in 1999.
The figures showed, however, that 36 new mothers were under 15, 103 were 16 and 252 were 17.
In total, the number of twins has shot up, now accounting for 18 per cent of all births, compared to 12 per cent in 1991. There were 1307 sets of twins, 27 triplets and one set of quadruplets.
The number of births dropped by 1,141 to 74,033. Of that, 37,898 were boys and 36,135 were girls. That is 28 per cent higher than a decade ago.
Although the fertility rate dropped to 2.02, it remained the highest in Europe.
The average age of mothers is now 31.8, up from 31.5 in 2010.
Over 25,000 children were born outside a partnership, 48.8 per cent in Limerick.
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