Fertility & birth rates in Ireland and United States

Fertility rate in Ireland vs United States chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Ireland was 1.5 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.62 in the United States in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Ireland vs the United States population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Ireland	United States
1960	3.78	3.65
1961	3.78	3.62
1962	3.92	3.46
1963	4.01	3.32
1964	4.07	3.19
1965	4.04	2.91
1966	3.94	2.72
1967	3.84	2.56
1968	3.77	2.46
1969	3.83	2.46
1970	3.85	2.48
1971	3.93	2.27
1972	3.84	2.01
1973	3.71	1.88
1974	3.59	1.84
1975	3.37	1.77
1976	3.29	1.74
1977	3.24	1.79
1978	3.21	1.76
1979	3.21	1.81
1980	3.21	1.84
1981	3.05	1.81
1982	2.94	1.83
1983	2.74	1.8
1984	2.58	1.81
1985	2.48	1.84
1986	2.44	1.84
1987	2.32	1.87
1988	2.17	1.93
1989	2.08	2.01
1990	2.11	2.08
1991	2.08	2.06
1992	1.99	2.05
1993	1.9	2.02
1994	1.85	2
1995	1.84	1.98
1996	1.88	1.98
1997	1.93	1.97
1998	1.94	2
1999	1.9	2.01
2000	1.89	2.06
2001	1.94	2.03
2002	1.97	2.02
2003	1.96	2.05
2004	1.93	2.05
2005	1.86	2.06
2006	1.91	2.11
2007	2.01	2.12
2008	2.06	2.07
2009	2.06	2
2010	2.05	1.93
2011	2.03	1.89
2012	1.98	1.88
2013	1.93	1.86
2014	1.89	1.86
2015	1.85	1.84
2016	1.81	1.82
2017	1.77	1.77
2018	1.75	1.73
2019	1.71	1.71
2020	1.63	1.64
2021	1.78	1.66
2022	1.54	1.66
2023	1.5	1.62
2024	1.5	1.62
2025	1.5	1.62
2026	1.5	1.62
2027	1.5	1.62
2028	1.5	1.62
2029	1.5	1.62
2030	1.5	1.62
2031	1.5	1.62
2032	1.5	1.62
2033	1.5	1.63
2034	1.5	1.62
2035	1.5	1.63
2036	1.5	1.63
2037	1.5	1.63
2038	1.5	1.63
2039	1.51	1.63
2040	1.51	1.63
2041	1.5	1.63
2042	1.5	1.63
2043	1.5	1.63
2044	1.51	1.63
2045	1.51	1.64
2046	1.5	1.64
2047	1.5	1.63
2048	1.5	1.64
2049	1.5	1.63
2050	1.5	1.64

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Ireland	United States
1960	30.9%	31.3%
1961	31%	31.4%
1962	30.9%	31.3%
1963	30.9%	31.1%
1964	30.9%	30.9%
1965	31.1%	30.7%
1966	31.1%	30.4%
1967	31.1%	30%
1968	31.1%	29.5%
1969	31.1%	29%
1970	31.1%	28.6%
1971	31.2%	28%
1972	31.2%	27.4%
1973	31.2%	26.6%
1974	31.2%	25.9%
1975	31.1%	25.2%
1976	31%	24.4%
1977	30.9%	23.8%
1978	30.7%	23.2%
1979	30.5%	22.8%
1980	30.4%	22.4%
1981	30.3%	22.1%
1982	30.1%	22%
1983	29.9%	21.8%
1984	29.6%	21.7%
1985	29.3%	21.5%
1986	28.9%	21.3%
1987	28.5%	21.3%
1988	28.1%	21.3%
1989	27.6%	21.5%
1990	27.1%	21.6%
1991	26.6%	21.7%
1992	26%	21.8%
1993	25.5%	21.9%
1994	24.9%	21.9%
1995	24.2%	21.8%
1996	23.6%	21.7%
1997	23%	21.5%
1998	22.5%	21.4%
1999	22.1%	21.3%
2000	21.8%	21.2%
2001	21.4%	21%
2002	21.1%	20.9%
2003	21%	20.7%
2004	20.8%	20.5%
2005	20.6%	20.3%
2006	20.4%	20.2%
2007	20.3%	20%
2008	20.5%	19.9%
2009	20.7%	19.8%
2010	21.1%	19.7%
2011	21.4%	19.6%
2012	21.5%	19.5%
2013	21.5%	19.4%
2014	21.4%	19.3%
2015	21.3%	19.2%
2016	21.2%	19.1%
2017	20.9%	18.9%
2018	20.7%	18.8%
2019	20.4%	18.6%
2020	20.1%	18.4%
2021	19.8%	18.1%
2022	19.5%	17.9%
2023	19%	17.6%
2024	18.6%	17.3%
2025	18.1%	17.1%
2026	17.6%	16.9%
2027	17.2%	16.7%
2028	16.9%	16.6%
2029	16.6%	16.4%
2030	16.3%	16.3%
2031	16%	16.1%
2032	15.8%	16%
2033	15.6%	16%
2034	15.4%	15.9%
2035	15.3%	15.9%
2036	15.2%	15.9%
2037	15.1%	15.9%
2038	15.1%	15.9%
2039	15.2%	15.9%
2040	15.2%	15.9%
2041	15.3%	16%
2042	15.4%	16%
2043	15.4%	16%
2044	15.5%	16%
2045	15.6%	16%
2046	15.6%	16%
2047	15.7%	16%
2048	15.7%	16%
2049	15.7%	15.9%
2050	15.6%	15.9%

Children aged 0-14 make up 18.6% of the population in Ireland and 17.3% in the United States in 2024, compared to 27.1% and 21.6% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Ireland and the United States compared.

Natural population change in Ireland vs United States by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been +0.58% in Ireland and +0.25% in the United States. The chart below illustrates the comparison of the absolute yearly changes resulting from births and deaths.

Table

Year	Population change due to births and deaths
	Ireland	United States
1960	28,286	2,565,530
1961	25,137	2,571,681
1962	28,077	2,406,337
1963	29,667	2,289,826
1964	31,532	2,245,099
1965	30,500	1,943,030
1966	26,866	1,749,387
1967	29,895	1,669,181
1968	27,697	1,565,507
1969	29,326	1,702,487
1970	30,756	1,824,965
1971	35,606	1,640,519
1972	34,316	1,301,355
1973	34,562	1,165,499
1974	34,199	1,218,968
1975	34,128	1,252,644
1976	33,676	1,264,604
1977	35,448	1,431,556
1978	36,288	1,402,283
1979	38,798	1,597,894
1980	40,612	1,608,450
1981	39,364	1,652,153
1982	38,344	1,714,317
1983	34,053	1,636,544
1984	31,791	1,627,192
1985	29,013	1,689,258
1986	27,963	1,656,917
1987	26,904	1,720,252
1988	22,912	1,735,943
1989	20,012	1,875,826
1990	21,787	2,026,068
1991	21,206	1,926,543
1992	20,283	1,875,328
1993	17,166	1,717,685
1994	17,234	1,633,302
1995	16,601	1,546,031
1996	18,915	1,510,137
1997	21,311	1,501,014
1998	22,277	1,573,857
1999	21,402	1,564,050
2000	23,592	1,664,758
2001	27,837	1,595,826
2002	31,062	1,581,938
2003	32,372	1,653,615
2004	33,376	1,698,271
2005	33,279	1,684,445
2006	36,752	1,849,955
2007	43,109	1,897,757
2008	46,691	1,794,154
2009	47,168	1,717,920
2010	47,426	1,548,182
2011	45,801	1,441,697
2012	42,775	1,411,822
2013	39,302	1,322,711
2014	37,728	1,357,281
2015	35,265	1,270,126
2016	33,339	1,197,627
2017	31,379	1,028,037
2018	29,878	955,022
2019	28,365	887,476
2020	23,687	208,862
2021	26,064	199,137
2022	19,287	399,926
2023	19,638	502,372

Maternal mortality chart: Ireland vs United States

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 4 deaths per 100,000 live births in Ireland, compared to 17 deaths in the United States.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Ireland	United States
1985	11	11
1986	11	11
1987	10	11
1988	11	12
1989	10	12
1990	11	12
1991	10	12
1992	10	11
1993	9	12
1994	9	11
1995	9	12
1996	8	11
1997	8	11
1998	8	11
1999	7	12
2000	8	12
2001	7	13
2002	7	13
2003	6	13
2004	6	13
2005	6	13
2006	6	13
2007	6	13
2008	6	14
2009	6	15
2010	6	15
2011	6	15
2012	6	16
2013	5	16
2014	5	17
2015	5	17
2016	4	18
2017	4	18
2018	5	18
2019	4	18
2020	6	22
2021	6	31
2022	7	20
2023	4	17

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.38% in Ireland and 0.65% in the United States. Below is the historical data on under-five mortality rates.

Table

Year	Mortality rate before reaching 5 years of age, per 1,000 live births
	Ireland	United States
1960	3.53%	3.01%
1961	3.38%	2.95%
1962	3.25%	2.89%
1963	3.13%	2.83%
1964	3.01%	2.77%
1965	2.87%	2.71%
1966	2.71%	2.64%
1967	2.55%	2.57%
1968	2.41%	2.49%
1969	2.3%	2.41%
1970	2.22%	2.32%
1971	2.17%	2.24%
1972	2.14%	2.15%
1973	2.11%	2.06%
1974	2.06%	1.97%
1975	2%	1.88%
1976	1.91%	1.79%
1977	1.81%	1.71%
1978	1.69%	1.63%
1979	1.56%	1.56%
1980	1.43%	1.5%
1981	1.32%	1.44%
1982	1.23%	1.39%
1983	1.17%	1.34%
1984	1.11%	1.3%
1985	1.07%	1.27%
1986	1.04%	1.24%
1987	1.02%	1.21%
1988	0.99%	1.19%
1989	0.96%	1.16%
1990	0.92%	1.12%
1991	0.87%	1.09%
1992	0.81%	1.05%
1993	0.77%	1.01%
1994	0.74%	0.98%
1995	0.73%	0.95%
1996	0.73%	0.92%
1997	0.73%	0.89%
1998	0.73%	0.87%
1999	0.73%	0.86%
2000	0.72%	0.84%
2001	0.69%	0.83%
2002	0.65%	0.82%
2003	0.6%	0.81%
2004	0.56%	0.81%
2005	0.52%	0.8%
2006	0.49%	0.79%
2007	0.46%	0.77%
2008	0.44%	0.76%
2009	0.43%	0.75%
2010	0.42%	0.73%
2011	0.41%	0.72%
2012	0.4%	0.7%
2013	0.39%	0.69%
2014	0.38%	0.68%
2015	0.37%	0.68%
2016	0.36%	0.67%
2017	0.35%	0.66%
2018	0.34%	0.65%
2019	0.34%	0.65%
2020	0.35%	0.65%
2021	0.36%	0.65%
2022	0.37%	0.65%
2023	0.38%	0.65%