Birth under-registration in the republic-of-ireland during the 20th-century

Abstract

Precis: The efficiency of birth registration in Ireland is investigated in this article by comparing the number of registered births with Census age-distributions in the period 1916-1971. It is argued that there was a sudden increase in the efficiency of birth registration in 1942-44 as a result of the greater incentives to register births, whilst a certain amount of under-registration, in the order of 3-10 per cent, existed from 1916 to 1941. Generally speaking, registration was more complete in Leinster and Munster than in Connacht and Ulster. After 1956 birth registration was more or less complete. The findings are relevant in understanding the evolution of an efficient system of birth registration in Ireland, and also in analysing national and regional fertility trends and patterns, natural increase and migration.