The number of babies born to Clare mothers saw a marginal decline last year.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office also show there was a significant increase in deaths recorded in this county over the same timeframe.
A total of 1,258 births were registered in Clare throughout the course of 2023, which is 21 fewer than the year before.
There was an even split between male and female births, while 125 babies were born to mothers aged over 40 and 11 babies were born to mothers aged under 20.
According to the CSO, there were 1,002 deaths registered in Clare last year, which is up 6% from the 944 recorded in 2022.
Of the deaths recorded in this county, 52 related to external injuries and poisoning, 131 involved respiratory conditions, 273 involved circulatory issues, with 281 deaths caused by cancer.
There was also a 56% increase in deaths by suicide recorded in Clare with 25 registered in total.
Clare’s infant mortality rate more than halved though, falling from 5.5 deaths in every 1,000 children aged below one-year old in 2022 to 2.4 deaths in every 1,000 last year.
Overall though, Clare’s population recorded a natural increase of 256 in 2023.
