Irish Population Rises Above Four And A Half Million

The first results of the census, held just 12 weeks ago, were released last week and show that Ireland's population is growing strongly, primarily due to a high number of births.

The total population reached 4,581,269 in April, an increase of 341,421 on the 2006 census.

This represents an increase of 8.1 per cent over the past five years, or an annual average of 1.6 per cent, compared to 2.0 per cent per year from 2002 to 2006.

The change in numbers varied widely across the country with the highest percentage increase in County Laois (20%), more than twice the rate for Ireland as a whole.

Other counties showing strong population growth were Cavan (13.9%), Fingal (13.8%), Longford (13.3%), Meath (13.0%) and Kildare (12.7%).

As in the period 2002 to 2006, Cork City and Limerick City were the only two of the thirty-four administrative counties in Ireland to register a fall in population.

All counties experienced "positive natural increase" (births minus deaths) from 2006, with the rates highest in Fingal, South Dublin, Kildare and Meath.

The counties with the lowest birth against death rates were Cork City, Roscommon and Mayo.

There continued to be net inward migration, measured at 118,650 over the last six years or an average of 23,730 each year.

However, while Ireland continued to experience strong net inward migration for the early years of the period, this was followed by a switch to net outward migration in the latter years, resulting in an average annual inward migration rate of less than half that experienced from 2002 to 2006.

All counties apart from South Dublin and the four provincial cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford experienced some level of net inward migration in the period, varying from a high of 23.8 per thousand in Laois to the greatest net outflow of 17.2 per thousand in Limerick City.

In a reversal of the situation in 2006, when there were slightly more men than women, there are now more women than men in the country with 981 men for every 1,000 women.

On a regional basis, Dublin showed the lowest ratio with only 949 men for every 1000 women, while the Midland region was the only region to show more men than women with 1,002 for every 1000.

Perhaps coming as no surprise given the recent economic problems in Ireland, the number of vacant dwellings has increased by 10.5%, although vacancy rates have dropped slightly, from 15.0% to 14.7% due to a 13.3% increase in the total number of dwellings.