Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Belmullet had the second lowest number of births recorded in the country in 2021.

112 children were born in the Belmullet area that year according to the CSO’s Births and Deaths at Local Electoral Areas report.

Ballinamore in Co. Leitrim was the only area where less babies were born, with 104, while Manorhamilton was third on the list with 117 births.

The highest amount of births was in Dublin’s North Inner City with 755.

Interestingly, it was the Leitrim capital of Carrick on Shannon that had the highest fertility rate in the country that same year.

It recorded a fertility rate of 61.2 per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 49.

A rate of 60.8 was recorded in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford and 60.6 in Ballybay-Clones in Monaghan.

The lowest fertility rate could be found in South-East Inner City Dublin, which was 29.8.

The CSO also recorded the “crude death rate” which is the number of deaths divided by the population in an area.

This found   that Belmullet had the highest crude death rate at 368 per 100,000, compared to the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart area in Fingal – the lowest 48.7.

Roughly 4.5% of deaths in 2021 were due to external causes, such as accidents, suicides and assaults among others.

These resulted in roughly one in ten deaths in a number of areas such as Galway City and Galway City East – both 11.3%.