Minister Humphreys publishes Annual Report of the Civil Registration Service for 2019

Social Protection Minister, Heather Humphreys T.D., today, published the 2019 Annual Report of the Civil Registration Service.

The Civil Registration Service is responsible for registering all life events of citizens and residents in the State. This includes births, marriages, deaths, adoption and stillbirths.

In all, over 112,800 life events were registered during 2019. These consisted of 60,173 births, 32,084 deaths and 20,335 marriages. Additionally, 79 adoptions and 197 stillbirths were registered during the year. The 2019 Annual Report of the Registrar General is available here.

Minister Humphreys said:

“Each year the General Register Office provides us with an insight into the lives of people living in the State. I am pleased the report emphasises the importance of civil registration in our society. It is the means by which a person establishes and protects their identity and ensures that their rights and entitlements are secured.”

The Minister added:

“Certificates of life events are important for day to day public, financial, legal and social transactions. Just over 403,000 certificates of various types were issued during 2019. Certificates are issued when a birth, death or marriage is registered and also where required by a member of the public.

“Certificates also provide invaluable information to members of the public engaged in family research and building family trees as well as supporting legal and other family processes, such as claims for Irish citizenship for people born outside the State with Irish ancestry.”

The Minister acknowledged the work being done to make historic resources of GRO and Civil Registration Service available online. Registration of marriages commenced in Ireland in 1845 with legal registration of births and deaths following from 1864. GRO has digitised all of its historic registers compiled since 1845. All but the earliest death registrations are now available to the public for free on www.irishgenealogy.ie.

Nearly 16 million historical civil registration records are now available to members of the public to access. As others become legally available, a further year of birth, death and marriage registrations records are made accessible in January of each year. All births registered before 1919, all marriages registered before 1949 and all deaths registered before 1969 are now available on www.irishgenealogy.ie.

The Civil Registration Service operates under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection and consists of the General Register Office (GRO) based in Roscommon Town and local registration offices provided at 61 locations nationally operated by the Health Service Executive.

Ends.

Notes for Editors

Civil registration is the legal practice of providing a continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of life events (births, deaths, still deaths, marriages and adoption) in the State. The General Register Office was established in 1843 and developed over time to ensure the legal registration of all life events in Ireland.

The General Register Office is responsible for providing legal documentation of life events (birth, death, marriage and other certificates). Registration records are also the source of vital statistics which are used by the Central Statistics Office to publish details, insights and projection of population and related vital and life statistics.

The registration process generates documentation that supports an individual’s right to recognition as a person before the law and acknowledges their formal relationship with the State. Individuals are able to have their existence, identity, and vital events legally recognised and obtain proof of legal and civil status through valid certificates.

The documentary evidence and permanent records established through civil registration enable individuals to make claims of legal identity, civil status and family relationships, therefore:

Protecting social, economic, cultural, political and human rights
Facilitating access to essential services such as healthcare, education and social protection
Enabling political participation, property ownership, recourse to justice, formal employment, inheritance and the use of banking and financial services
Offering the basis for identity documents such as a passport or ID
Enables travel and the provision of essential proofs to foreign Government bodies and services overseas.

Summary of key activities during 2019

Number of Registrations Recorded 2016-2019

	2016	2017	2018	2019
Births	64,758	62,919	61,901	60,173
Deaths	31,232	31,385	32,029	32,084
Marriages	22,620	22,018	21,052	20,335
Adoptions	102	63	81	79
Stillbirths	213	208	223	197
Total	118,925	116,593	115,286	112,868

Number of Certificates Issued – by Type 2016-2019

	2016	2017	2018	2019
Birth	259,402	246,672	247,750	245,734
Death	91,843	89,365	91,289	92,946
Marriage	65,144	64,104	63,818	63,213
Adoptions	2,033	1,969	1,723	1,218
Stillbirth	290	336	379	419
Civil Partnership	144	77	75	74
Total	418,856	402,523	405,034	403,604