The average age at which a woman in Clare gives birth for the first time has risen by two years in the space of a decade.
New data collected by the Central Statistics Office has revealed the average age of a mother in Clare is one of the highest in the country – with the majority of women here giving birth aged 30 or older.
In the first quarter of 2024, there were 319 births in Clare – 57% of which were within marriage – with the remaining 43% outside marriage.
The average age of a woman giving birth in Clare in that period was just under 34 which is the eighth-highest in the country.
Mothers aged between 30 and 34 accounted for 37% of births here in the first three months of the year while those between 35 and 39 accounted for 33%.
This was followed by the age bracket of 25 to 29 at 13% – while mothers aged 40 or over accounted for 11% of Clare’s births, those aged between 20 and 44 accounted for 6% and just two women in Clare under the age of 20 gave birth.
The average age at which a woman in Clare gave birth for the first time was 32.3 which is up from 30.5 in the same period ten years ago and up from 29.3 in 2008 when records began.
