Westmeath births fall as national trend deepens

Westmeath has seen a sharp drop in birth rates across its local electoral areas (LEAs), according to new Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures which confirm a deepening national trend of population ageing.

The latest release shows that birth numbers in all four Westmeath LEAs – Mullingar, Kinnegad, Moate and Athlone – declined in 2022 after peaking in 2021.

The steepest drop in births was in Mullingar, from 430 in 2021 to 347 in 2022 – a decrease of nearly 20%. The birth rate per 1,000 population in the Mullingar LEA fell from 14.2 to 11.4 in the same period.

Athlone births declined from 295 in 2021 to 247 in 2022. In Kinnegad, births fell slightly from 249 to 245, while Moate held steady, dropping by just six births from 261 to 255.

The natural increase –(the number of births minus deaths) also saw a notable decline in Westmeath across all areas. Mullingar’s natural increase dropped from 228 in 2021 to 163 in 2022. Athlone’s figure fell to 77, down from 122, while Kinnegad and Moate recorded more modest declines, from 86 to 91 and 119 to 115 respectively.

Despite the downturn, Moate stood out with one of the highest fertility rates in the country. At 52.9 births per 1,000 women aged 15–49, Moate tied with Enniscorthy, Newcastle West, Loughrea and Tramore-Waterford City West – all recording the joint-highest fertility rate nationally.

The national fertility rate for 2022 stood at 42.3.

Nationally, the overall birth rate in 2022 was 10.2 per 1,000 of population, with a total of 54,483 births – down sharply from 60,575 in 2021. It marks one of the steepest annual declines in births in recent decades.

Commenting on the figures, CSO statistician Seán O’Connor noted that 2022 marked the first year in the current data series where 15 out of 166 LEAs experienced more deaths than births.

None of the Westmeath LEAs were among those 15, but the decline in natural increase across the county suggests a narrowing demographic cushion as the population ages and birth rates fall.

While Westmeath’s death rates were not among the highest in the country, the drop in births is likely to have long-term implications for services, planning, and population sustainability.

The CSO emphasised that the data is based on experimental methodology using administrative population estimates (IPEADS), and may not align exactly with Census figures.