A record high of 408 babies were born to women aged 45 years and above in 2023, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
This was an increase of 80.5 per cent on 2013 according to the Vital Statistics Annual Report, released by the CSO on Monday.
Meanwhile, the number of women giving birth under the age of 20 decreased by just over half from 2013 dropping from 1,380 to 683 births.
In 2023, the average age of mothers increased, by 3.1 per cent since 2013, to 33.2 years old.
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In the decade to 2023, there was a drop of more than 20 per cent in the number of births in Ireland.
In 2023, the infant mortality rate was 3.3 per 1,000 live births, there were 135 neonatal deaths, 108 stillbirths and two registered maternal deaths.
The report also found 312 people died aged 100 years and above, of which 61 were male and 251 were female.
Separately, on Monday, the CSO published the second in a two-part series on the twins who took part in the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Cohort ’08 survey. The latest research paper looks at the lives of those twins at the age of 13.
Twin children showed lower rates of engagement with general practitioner (GP) services compared to their singleton peers in the 12-month period prior to interview.
[ Births to women aged 40 and over increased by 21.5% in 10 yearsOpens in new window ]
Some 70.3 per cent of parents of twins had not seen, or talked on the telephone with the GP about their child’s physical, emotional or mental health within the previous 12-month period, compared with 64 per cent of parents of singleton children.
Twin children and singleton children had similar levels of daily physical activity. When gender was factored in, twin boys and singleton boys had a similar and higher level of daily exercise than twin girls or singleton girls.
Almost a quarter of twin children reported exercising to lose or avoid gaining weight, compared to 31 per cent of singleton children.
Similarly, a smaller number of twins compared to singletons reported having ever eaten less food, fewer calories or foods low in fat to lose weight or to avoid gaining weight.
[ Significant increase in twin births in two decades, CSO findsOpens in new window ]
Twin children did not make as many new friends when entering secondary school, with 35.9 per cent of twins “strongly agreeing” that they made new friends compared to 42.3 per cent of singleton children.
However, almost half of twin respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they missed their old friends, compared with 46.4 per cent of singleton children.
Almost two-thirds of twin children said they had never engaged in disruptive behaviour at school, compared to 57.6 per cent of singleton children.
