Dublin Opinion

Irish Birth Rate and 1980s Social Change

Jul 6th, 2010 by Conor McCabe

Donagh just pointed this out to me.

Coincidence, maybe?

on 06 Jul 2010 at 7:58 pm1Tomboktu

[Not an original observation]

May be it was a reaction to the papal visit.
on 06 Jul 2010 at 8:07 pm2Conor McCabe
on 07 Jul 2010 at 6:47 am3ec

smaller dip at 1991/2 - introduction of non-judgemental condom machines
on 07 Jul 2010 at 6:48 am4ec

?
on 07 Jul 2010 at 8:21 am5Sean Baite

We can blame ribbed mint-flavoured Durex for the whole f@**-up then ?
on 07 Jul 2010 at 5:39 pm6Eoin

So it took ten years between 1980 and 1990? Good chart and helps me in my Quest for the Origins of Irish Secularisation ™
on 12 Jul 2010 at 9:47 pm7Slí Eile

Trends based on birth rates (births per 1,000 women) can be misleading as the total size of the female population changes. A more meaningful measure if the total period fertility rate. That shows a ’secular trend’ - to pardon the pun - since about the mid to early 1960s with acceleration in the 1980s (followed by a recovery and stabilisation from 1994 onwards). Clearly TV, Gaybo and travel in the 1960s were to blame. By the way, liberalisation to cover all persons over 18 didn’t apply until the ‘Desmond’ bill in around 1985 if memory serves me well. All in all, Ireland has come a long way from the black and white Reeling in the years. It has to be said that the ‘left’ won the culture wars but lost the socio-economic wars.