Perinatal Statistics for 2000

October 19, 2004

News

19/10/2004

 

Perinatal Statistics for 2000

HIPE & NPRS Unit, ESRI



This report presents information on pregnancy outcomes, together with descriptive social and biological characteristics of mothers giving birth and babies born in Ireland in 2000.

 

 

  • 55,166 births were notified to the National Perinatal Reporting System in 2000.
  • The birth rate was 14.5 per 1,000 population - a decrease of 3.3 % since 1991.
  • Between 1991and 2000, the rate of Early Neonatal Death (death within 7 days) fell by 23.8%, and the Stillbirth Rate fell by 1.8 % giving an overall fall in Perinatal Mortality of 11.1%.
  • Over 21% of all births are now by Caesarean Section - an 81.5% increase compared to 1991.
  • The average birthweight of babies was 3,491g, just over 1% lower than 1991. Low birthweight babies (weighing less than 2,500g) represented 4.9% of all births in 2000 compared with 4.2% in 1991.
  • The Twinning Rate was 12.8 per 1,000 maternities: there were 698 twin births, 16 triplet births and 1 quadruplet birth in 2000.
  • Just over 30% of all women giving birth were single mothers. This was an increase of 93.6% on the 1991 figure of 15.5% .
  • Average age of mothers was 30 years and the average maternal parity was 1.1 in 2000, unchanged from 1999. Average maternal parity declined from 1.4 in 1991.
  • The percentage of mothers breastfeeding is increasing with 38.4% breastfeeding in 2000 compared to 31.9% in 1991.
  • There were 216 home births attended by independent domiciliary midwives in 2000 compared with 184 such births in 1991.
  • 2000 saw a further decrease in the percentage of early neonatal deaths undergoing post-mortem examinations. This rate, 39.4%, declined by 11.2% between 1999 and 2000 alone. Over the past decade, the overall rate for post-mortems has decreased by just over 40% from the 1991 rate of 66.1%.