THE TOTAL NUMBER of deaths in Ireland climbed 10% in the first quarter of this year, with Covid-19 accounting for almost 20% of all mortalities.

Fresh figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) today reveal that the total number of deaths in the first three months of 2021 increased by 890 on the same period in 2020.

There were a total of 9,564 deaths between the start of January and the end of March. The period represents the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Ireland when strict lockdown measures were in place.

There were 1,846 deaths due to Covid-19 in the quarter, accounting for almost one-fifth (19.3%) of all deaths in the timeframe.

The latest stats from the Department of Health, released on Wednesday this week, show that a total of 5,092 deaths related to Covid-19 have been notified in Ireland.

The deaths from Covid-19 recorded between January and March account for 36% of the total number of deaths from the coronavirus disease throughout the pandemic.

Cancer and circulatory disease were the biggest causes of death in the quarter. The two categories accounted for just under half of all deaths, down from more than 57% in the same quarter last year.

CSO statistician Carol Anne Hennessy said the number of births has fallen by 476 from the same time last year to 13,895, a drop of more than three percent.

“Births to teenage mothers also continue to fall, down from 221 in quarter one of 2020 to 179 in the current quarter,” Hennessy said.

The average age of mothers was just over 33, the same as a year previously, while 10 years ago, it was 31.7 years for the same timeframe.

More than 40% of all births were outside of marriage/civil partnership, similar to the same quarter a year earlier when 38.3% of births were to mothers outside of marriage.

As there were 13,895 births and 9,564 deaths, the rate of natural increase was 4,331 in the first quarter of this year.

This represents a decrease of 24% on the same period in 2020 when it was 5,697.