Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures released on Wednesday, 24 July, shows that Mullingar had one of the highest birth rates in Ireland in 2021.
The figures measured each Local Electoral Authority area in the country, including Kinnegad, Moate and Athlone.
Mullingar had the sixth highest birth rate in the country, with a birth rate of 14.2 per 1,000 of population, much higher than the national average of 11.5 per 1,000 of population.
The only areas to have higher birth rates were Tallaght South (South Dublin), Ongar (Fingal), Maynooth (Kildare), Firhouse-Bohernabreena (South Dublin) and Naas (Kildare).
Moate’s birth rate was also higher than the national average, with a figure of 12.8 per 1,000 of population, however, both Kinnegad and Athlone had below average figures.
Athlone’s birth rate was 11.1 per 1,000 of population whereas Kinnegad’s birth rate was even less at 10.7.
The area with the lowest birth rate was Galway City Central which measured at 8.3 per 1,000 of population. Three other low scoring areas, Glenties (Donegal), Belmullet (Mayo) and Bantry West Cork (Cork) actually had more deaths in their area than births.
BIRTHS AND DEATHS
All of the Westmeath local electoral areas saw more births occur than deaths in 2021, with Mullingar, unsurprisingly, having the highest difference of births to deaths.
There were more than double the births in Mullingar in 2021, with 430 babies born, compared to 202 total deaths.
Moate had 83% more births in the area compared to deaths, and Athlone had 70.5%. Kinnegad had the lowest difference between births and deaths in Westmeath, with a difference of 52.8%.
