The CSO vital statistics for 2015 have been published revealing we are having less babies and starting older.

The number of births here is falling with a decrease of 12.8% in 2015 on 2010 figures.

The average age Irish women are having their first baby is 32-and-a-half.

Mothers under 30 accounted for nearly 30% of births in 2015 compared with ten years previously when under 30s accounted for nearly 40% of births.

There were 1,199 births to mothers under 20 years in 2015, which is half the number born to under 20s ten years ago.

65,500 babies were born with just under 1,500 more boys than girls born.

Over a third of all births were outside of marriage or civil partnership.