Almost 66,000 babies were born in Ireland last year, an increase of 8% when compared with 10 years before, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have shown.

According to the figures, 65,909 births were registered in 2015, compared to just over 61,000 in 2005.

The average age of mothers giving birth last year was 32.5 years and almost 40% of births were to first time mothers.

Some 1,187 teenagers gave birth in Ireland last year, a big drop when compared with 2005, when 2,427 teenagers gave birth.

Almost eight in 10 births in Ireland were to mothers of Irish nationality.

The five most popular baby names given to boys in 2015 were Jack, James, Daniel, Conor and Sean. Jack has been the most popular name in Ireland every year since 2007.

The five most popular girls' names were Emily, Emma, Ava, Sophie and Amelia. This is the fifth year in a row that Emily has been the most popular girl's name.

Meanwhile, the CSO figures also revealed that there were 29,952 deaths registered in 2015, which is almost 9% higher than in 2005 when 27,441 deaths were registered.

Almost four in five deaths were due to diseases of the circulatory system, cancer or diseases of the respiratory system.

Some 451 deaths by suicide were registered in 2015 compared with 459 in 2014. Males accounted for 83% of all suicides last year.

There were also 151 neonatal deaths registered last year. These are deaths involving infants under four weeks of age.