Irish mothers are older than the EU average but they still end up having more children. So the fact that women giving birth in Ireland are a couple of years older than the EU average is significant. Figures for 2023 – the latest complete EU data – show that the average age of a woman giving birth here was 33.2, the highest in the EU and two years above the EU average of 31.2. Looking at the average for first births, Ireland is at 31.6 – up from 26 in the mid-1980s – compared with the EU average at 29.8. On current trends, women in Ireland have, on average, 1.5 children (this is called the fertility rate), compared with the EU average of 1.38.

Source: The Irish Times January 29, 2026 13:36 UTC