Over 1,500 births registered in the Shannonside Region last year

Over 1,500 births were registered in the Shannonside Region last year. The figure, released by the CSO, is a drop on the previous year's figure of 1,609. Statistics show that women in the 30 to 34 age group saw the highest birth rate last year locally.

1,553 births were recorded over the 12 months, with Roscommon seeing the largest amount at 712. That's followed by 503 registered births in Longford and 338 in Leitrim. Over 54,600 births in total were recorded in Ireland in all of 2023, a decrease of close to a thousand on 2022.