Society Measuring Ireland's Progress 2013 - Central Statistics Office

Ireland: Population distribution by age group

1.1 Ireland: Population distribution by age group, 2005-2014¹

	%					000 persons
Year	0-14 years	15-24 years	25-44 years	45-64 years	65 years and over	Total
2005	20.6	15.3	31.1	21.8	11.1	4,133.8
2006	20.4	15.1	31.7	21.8	10.9	4,232.9
2007	20.2	15.2	32.1	21.8	10.8	4,375.8
2008	20.4	14.9	32.1	21.8	10.8	4,485.1
2009	20.7	14.3	31.9	22.1	11.0	4,533.4
2010	21.0	13.5	31.7	22.4	11.3	4,554.8
2011	21.3	12.7	31.7	22.7	11.6	4,574.9
2012	21.7	12.1	31.3	23.0	12.0	4,585.4
2013	21.9	11.6	30.8	23.3	12.4	4,593.1
2014	22.0	11.4	30.3	23.6	12.7	4,609.6
Source: CSO Population Estimates
¹ Persons in April of each year. Data for 2012, 2013 and 2014 is preliminary.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 1.1 (XLS 12KB)

The population of Ireland was just over 4.6 million in 2014, an increase of 475,800 since 2005.
The proportion of the population aged 15-24 dropped from 15.3% in 2005 to 11.4% in 2014, partly due to the low number of births in the 1990's.
Conversely the porportion of the population aged 45-64 increased from 21.8% in 2005 to 23.6% in 2014 while the proportion aged 65 and over increased from 11.1% to 12.7% over the same time period.

EU: Population

1.2 EU: Population 2003 and 2013¹

persons
Country	2003	2013	Change
EU	490,815,046	507,162,571	16,347,525
Germany	82,536,680	82,020,578	-516,102
France	61,864,088	65,578,819	3,714,731
United Kingdom	59,501,394	63,896,071	4,394,677
Italy	57,130,506	59,685,227	2,554,721
Spain	41,827,838	46,727,890	4,900,052
Poland	38,218,531	38,533,299	314,768
Romania	21,627,509	20,020,074	-1,607,435
Netherlands	16,192,572	16,779,575	587,003
Belgium	10,355,844	11,161,642	805,798
Greece	10,998,903	11,062,508	63,605
Czech Republic	10,192,649	10,516,125	323,476
Portugal	10,444,592	10,487,289	42,697
Hungary	10,142,362	9,908,798	-233,564
Sweden	8,940,788	9,555,893	615,105
Austria	8,100,273	8,451,860	351,587
Bulgaria	7,845,841	7,284,552	-561,289
Denmark	5,383,507	5,602,628	219,121
Finland	5,206,295	5,426,674	220,379
Slovakia	5,374,873	5,410,836	35,963
Ireland	3,964,191	4,591,087	626,896
Croatia	4,305,384	4,262,140	-43,244
Lithuania	3,431,497	2,971,905	-459,592
Slovenia	1,995,033	2,058,821	63,788
Latvia	2,299,390	2,023,825	-275,565
Estonia	1,375,190	1,320,174	-55,016
Cyprus	713,720	865,878	152,158
Luxembourg	448,300	537,039	88,739
Malta	397,296	421,364	24,068

Turkey	69,770,026	75,627,384	5,857,358
Switzerland	7,313,853	8,039,060	725,207
Norway	4,552,252	5,051,275	499,023
Macedonia	2,023,654	2,062,294	38,640
Iceland	288,471	321,857	33,386
Source: Eurostat
¹ Population on the 1st January of the specific year.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 1.2 (XLS 13KB)

Ireland had the third highest percentage increase in population between 2003 and 2013 in the EU, behind Cyprus and Luxembourg.
Eight EU countries, including Germany, experienced population decline over the same time period.

	% population change
Cyprus	21.3190046516841
Luxembourg	19.7945572161499
Ireland	15.8139706184692
Spain	11.7148106005383
Belgium	7.78109442359309
United Kingdom	7.38583872505575
Sweden	6.87976272337517
Malta	6.05795175385607
France	6.00466461252932
Italy	4.47172829171161
Austria	4.34043395821351
Finland	4.23293340081574
Denmark	4.0702278273252
Netherlands	3.62513750131851
Slovenia	3.1973405953686
Czech Republic	3.17362051808122
Poland	0.82360046753236
Slovakia	0.669094879079003
Greece	0.578284943507548
Portugal	0.408795288509116
Germany	-0.625300169573092
Croatia	-1.00441679534276
Hungary	-2.30285608027006
Estonia	-4.00061082468604
Bulgaria	-7.15396858029624
Romania	-7.43236310755899
Latvia	-11.9842653921257
Lithuania	-13.3933382427553
	0
Iceland	11.5734337247072
Norway	10.9621128180074
Switzerland	9.91552605719584
Turkey	8.3952355127401
Macedonia	1.90941732134051

Show Map - EU: Population, 2013

Ireland: Migration and natural increase

1.3 Ireland: Migration and natural increase, 2005-2014¹

000 persons
Year	Inward migration	Outward migration	Net migration²	Natural increase	Population change	Total population
2005	84.6	29.4	55.1	33.5	88.6	4,133.8
2006	107.8	36.0	71.8	34.2	106.0	4,232.9
2007	151.1	46.3	104.8	38.2	142.9	4,375.8
2008	113.5	49.2	64.3	44.9	109.2	4,485.1
2009	73.7	72.0	1.6	46.7	48.3	4,533.4
2010	41.8	69.2	-27.5	48.8	21.4	4,554.8
2011	53.3	80.6	-27.4	47.5	20.1	4,574.9
2012	52.7	87.1	-34.4	44.9	10.5	4,585.4
2013	55.9	89.0	-33.1	40.8	7.7	4,593.1
2014	60.6	81.9	-21.4	37.9	16.5	4,609.6
Source: CSO Population and Migration Estimates
¹ Data refer to the 12 months up to April of each year and is preliminary for 2012, 2013 and 2014.
² Net migration is the number of inward migrants (immigrants) less outward migrants (emigrants).

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 1.3 (XLS 19KB)

Annual immigration into Ireland rose from 84,600 people in 2005 to peak at 151,100 in 2007 before falling back sharply to 41,800 people in 2010. Since then immigration has climbed to reach 60,600 in 2014.
The level of annual emigration from Ireland was 29,400 in 2005 and it has increased strongly since then to stand at 81,900 people in 2014.
The combined effect of these changes in immigration and emigration has resulted in net migration turning negative in 2010 (i.e., more people left the country than arrived) and has remained negative since then.
The natural increase in the population (i.e., births less deaths), increased from 33,500 people in 2005 to 48,800 in 2010 before falling to 37,900 in 2014.
The annual change in the population was over 100,000 people during 2006, 2007 and 2008 but in recent years the annual change has been very small, with just 16,500 people added to the population in 2014.

Ireland: Immigration by country of origin

1.4 Ireland: Immigration by country of origin, 2005-2014¹

000 persons
Year	United Kingdom	Rest of EU 15²	EU 13³	USA	Canada	Australia	Rest of World	All countries
2005	15.6	11.1	33.7	4.8	..	..	19.4	84.6
2006	17.7	13.5	49.3	4.0	..	..	23.3	107.8
2007	18.2	20.3	72.6	5.3	..	..	34.7	151.1
2008	19.4	14.5	45.5	5.0	2.0	7.1	20.0	113.5
2009	13.4	18.1	17.5	3.0	1.0	7.1	13.6	73.7
2010	9.1	7.8	8.7	1.7	0.5	6.5	7.6	41.8
2011	11.9	9.7	9.8	3.3	1.3	4.5	12.9	53.3
2012	8.4	10.2	9.3	4.9	1.6	4.9	13.4	52.7
2013	9.7	10.3	11.8	3.6	1.1	5.3	14.1	55.9
2014	9.7	11.2	9.8	2.6	1.2	3.6	22.4	60.6
Source: CSO Population and Migration Estimates
¹ Data refer to the 12 months up to April of each year and is preliminary for 2012, 2013 and 2014.
² Rest of EU 15: Countries before enlargement on 1 May 2004, (i.e., Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Portugal).
³ EU 13: Defined as the 10 countries who joined on 1 May 2004 (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia), along with Bulgaria and Romania (joined 1 January 2007) and Croatia (joined 1 July 2013).

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 1.4 (XLS 19KB)

In 2005 there were about 84,600 immigrants into Ireland and this number grew to over 150,000 in 2007 before falling sharply to 41,800 in 2010. However since then immigration has risen and in 2014 over 60,000 people moved to live in Ireland.
About 33,700 people moved to Ireland in 2005 from the EU 13 countries (i.e., the 13 new EU countries who joined in 2004, 2007 and 2013). This number rose to 72,600 in 2007, falling back sharply to just 8,700 in 2010 and staying fairly close to this level over the following four years.
Immigration from the United Kingdom rose from 15,600 people in 2005 to 19,400 in 2008 before falling back to 9,700 in 2014.
In 2005 about 11,100 people moved to Ireland from the Rest of EU 15 countries, i.e., the 15 EU countries before enlargement on 1 May 2004, exluding the United Kingdom and Ireland. This number rose to 20,300 in 2007 but has since fallen to stand at 11,200 in 2014.

	UK	Rest of EU15	EU13	Rest of world
2005	15.6	11.1	33.7	19.4
2006	17.7	13.5	49.3	23.3
2007	18.2	20.3	72.6	34.7
2008	19.4	14.5	45.5	20
2009	13.4	18.1	17.5	13.6
2010	9.1	7.8	8.7	7.6
2011	11.9	9.7	9.8	12.9
2012	8.4	10.2	9.3	13.4
2013	9.7	10.3	11.8	14.1
2014	9.7	11.2	9.8	22.4

EU: Young and old as proportion of population aged 15-64

1.5 EU: Young and old as proportion of population aged 15-64, 2013¹

% of population aged 15-64
Country	Young and old	Young (0-14)	Old (65 & over)
Slovakia	39.8	21.5	18.4
Poland	41.4	21.3	20.1
Cyprus	42.0	23.3	18.8
Luxembourg	44.9	24.6	20.2
Slovenia	46.2	21.2	25.0
Hungary	46.2	21.1	25.1
Czech Republic	46.3	21.7	24.6
Malta	46.4	21.3	25.1
Romania	47.0	23.0	23.9
Austria	48.1	21.4	26.8
Bulgaria	48.7	20.2	28.5
Spain	48.9	22.6	26.3
Lithuania	49.1	21.9	27.2
Croatia	49.4	22.3	27.1
Latvia	49.7	21.6	28.1
Estonia	50.8	23.6	27.2
EU	51.1	23.6	27.5
Germany	51.1	19.8	31.3
Netherlands	51.5	26.0	25.5
Ireland	51.8	33.2	18.6
Portugal	51.9	22.5	29.4
Belgium	52.8	26.0	26.8
Greece	53.3	22.5	30.9
United Kingdom	53.4	27.0	26.4
Italy	54.2	21.6	32.7
Finland	54.3	25.3	28.9
Denmark	54.5	27.0	27.6
Sweden	56.3	26.4	29.9
France	56.6	29.1	27.5

Macedonia	40.9	24.0	16.9
Switzerland	47.8	22.1	25.7
Turkey	48.0	36.9	11.1
Iceland	50.6	31.1	19.5
Norway	51.5	27.8	23.7
Source: Eurostat
¹ Data refers to 1st January.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 1.5 (XLS 13KB)

Expressed as a percentage of those aged 15-64, Ireland had the highest proportion of persons aged under 15 in the EU (33.2%) and the second lowest proportion of persons aged 65 and over (18.6%).
This resulted in a combined age dependency ratio of 51.8% in Ireland in 2013 which was similar to the average for other EU member states although markedly different in composition.
In 2013 the highest combined age dependency ratio in the EU was in France at 56.6% while the lowest was in Slovakia at 39.8%.
Italy, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Bulgaria had far higher proportions of their population in the 65 and over category (around 30%) in comparision with the 0-14 age group (around 21%).

EU: Total fertility rate

1.6 EU: Total fertility rate¹, 2002-2012

Country	Total fertility rate			Proportion of live births outside marriage 2012
	2002	2007	2012	Proportion of live births outside marriage 2012
Ireland	1.97	2.01	2.01	35.1
France	1.88	1.98	2.01	55.8
United Kingdom	1.63	1.86	1.92	47.6
Sweden	1.65	1.88	1.91	54.5
Finland	1.72	1.83	1.80	41.5
Belgium	1.65	1.82	1.79	52.3
Denmark	1.72	1.84	1.73	50.6
Netherlands	1.73	1.72	1.72	46.6
Lithuania	1.23	1.36	1.60	28.8
EU	1.45	1.56	1.58	39.3
Slovenia	1.21	1.38	1.58	57.6
Luxembourg	1.63	1.61	1.57	37.1
Estonia	1.36	1.69	1.56	58.4
Romania	1.27	1.42	1.53	31.0
Croatia	1.42	1.48	1.51	:
Bulgaria	1.21	1.49	1.50	57.4
Czech Republic	1.17	1.45	1.45	43.4
Latvia	1.26	1.54	1.44	45.0
Austria	1.39	1.38	1.44	41.5
Italy	1.27	1.40	1.43	28.0
Malta	1.45	1.35	1.43	25.7
Cyprus	1.49	1.44	1.39	18.6
Germany	1.34	1.37	1.38	34.5
Greece	1.27	1.38	1.34	7.6
Hungary	1.30	1.32	1.34	44.5
Slovakia	1.19	1.27	1.34	35.4
Spain	1.25	1.38	1.32	35.5
Poland	1.25	1.31	1.30	22.3
Portugal	1.46	1.35	1.28	45.6

Turkey	:	:	2.09	:
Iceland	1.93	2.09	2.04	:
Norway	1.75	1.90	1.85	:
Switzerland	1.39	1.46	1.53	:
Macedonia	1.80	1.46	1.51	:
Source: Eurostat
¹ 2011 data used for proportion of live births outside marriage for EU and France.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 1.6 (XLS 20KB)

Ireland, along with France, had the joint highest fertiliy rate in the EU in 2012 at 2.01.
The lowest fertility rate was in Portugal at 1.28.
Eastern EU member states, along with Mediterranean countries, tended to have the lowest fertility rates.
The average EU fertility rose from 1.45 in 2002 to 1.58 in 2012 while the rate in Ireland rose from 1.97 to 2.01 over the same time period.
Over a third of all births were outside marriage in Ireland in 2012, which was the ninth lowest proportion in the EU.
Estonia had the highest proportion of births outside marriage at 58.4% while Greece had the lowest at 7.6%.
More than half of all births were outside marriage in Estonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, France, Sweden, Belgium and Denmark.

Show Map - EU: Total fertility rate, 2012

Show Map - EU: Proportion of live births outside marriage, 2012

EU: Divorce rates

1.7 EU: Divorce rates, 2002, 2007 and 2012¹

divorces per 1,000 population
Country	2002	2007	2012
Ireland	0.7	0.8	0.6
Italy	0.7	0.9	0.9
Malta	:	:	1.1
Greece	1.0	1.2	1.2
Slovenia	1.2	1.3	1.2
Croatia	1.0	1.1	1.3
Bulgaria	1.3	2.2	1.6
Romania	1.5	1.7	1.6
Poland	1.2	1.7	1.7
EU	1.9	2.1	2.0
France	1.9	2.1	2.0
Austria	2.5	2.5	2.0
Slovakia	2.0	2.3	2.0
Luxembourg	2.4	2.3	2.1
Netherlands	2.1	2.0	2.1
United Kingdom	2.7	2.3	2.1
Germany	2.5	2.3	2.2
Spain	1.0	2.8	2.2
Hungary	2.5	2.5	2.2
Estonia	3.0	2.8	2.4
Cyprus	1.9	2.1	2.4
Portugal	2.7	2.4	2.4
Finland	2.6	2.5	2.4
Belgium	3.0	2.8	2.5
Czech Republic	3.1	3.0	2.5
Sweden	2.4	2.3	2.5
Denmark	2.8	2.6	2.8
Lithuania	3.1	3.5	3.5
Latvia	2.6	3.4	3.6

Macedonia	0.6	0.7	0.9
Iceland	1.8	1.7	1.6
Turkey	:	1.3	1.6
Norway	2.3	2.2	2.0
Switzerland	2.2	2.6	2.2
		Source: Eurostat
¹ 2010 data used for EU, Greece and Luxembourg and 2011 data used for France, Italy, UK and Iceland.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2013 Table 1.7 (XLS 12KB)

Ireland had the lowest divorce rate in the EU in 2012, at 0.6 divorces per 1,000 population.
The highest rate of divorce was in Latvia at 3.6 divorces per 1,000 population while the EU average was 2.0.
The divorce rate in Ireland remained stable over the period 2002 to 2012.

Show Map - EU: Divorce rate, 2012

Go to next chapter>>> Society - Social cohesion

How is the CSO doing?

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2013

Society - Population

Ireland: Population distribution by age group

EU: Population

Ireland: Migration and natural increase

Ireland: Immigration by country of origin

EU: Young and old as proportion of population aged 15-64

EU: Total fertility rate

EU: Divorce rates

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