In total 24,900 live births were registered in Northern Ireland in 2009, marginally less (3%) than the number of births registered in 2008. This fall in birth registrations halts a six-year (2002-2008) consecutive increase.

These findings are contained in provisional 2009 birth statistics released today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

The recent fall in registered births should be set against the increase in numbers from 2002 to 2008. The number of births registered in 2009 remains well above the record low in 2002, when 21,400 births were registered. It is too early to be definitive about whether the decrease in 2009 indicates a new trend (see editor’s note 3).

Whilst last year the overall number of births registered fell marginally, the number of births to mothers born in the eight Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004 remained at 1,100 births. This compares with 10 such births in 2001.