Society Measuring Ireland's Progress 2014 - Central Statistics Office

Ireland: Population distribution by age group

1.1 Ireland: Population distribution by age group, 2006-2015¹

%						000 persons
Year	0-14 years	15-24 years	25-44 years	45-64 years	65 years and over	Total
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
2015	22.2	11.1	29.7	23.9	13.1	4,635.4
Source: CSO Population Estimates
¹ Persons in April of each year. Data for years 2012 to 2015 is preliminary.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2014 Table 1.1 (XLS 12KB)

The population of Ireland was 4.64 million in 2014, an increase of 402,500 since 2006.
The proportion of the population aged 15 to 24 dropped from 15.1% in 2006 to 11.1% in 2015, partly due to the low number of births in the 1990's.
Conversely the proportion of the population aged 65 and over increased from 10.9% in 2006 to 13.1% in 2015 while the proportion aged 45 to 64 increased from 21.8% to 23.9%.

EU: Population

1.2 EU: Population 2004 and 2014¹

persons
Country	2004	2014	Change
EU28	492,653,174	506,913,394	14,260,220
Germany	82,531,671	80,767,463	-1,764,208
France	62,292,241	65,835,579	3,543,338
United Kingdom	59,793,759	64,308,261	4,514,502
Italy	57,495,900	60,782,668	3,286,768
Spain	42,547,451	46,512,199	3,964,748
Poland	38,190,608	38,017,856	-172,752
Romania	21,521,142	19,947,311	-1,573,831
Netherlands	16,258,032	16,829,289	571,257
Belgium	10,396,421	11,203,992	807,571
Greece	11,037,745	10,992,589	-45,156
Czech Republic	10,195,347	10,512,419	317,072
Portugal	10,473,050	10,427,301	-45,749
Hungary	10,116,742	9,877,365	-239,377
Sweden	8,975,670	9,644,864	669,194
Austria	8,142,573	8,506,889	364,316
Bulgaria	7,745,147	7,245,677	-499,470
Denmark	5,397,640	5,627,235	229,595
Finland	5,219,732	5,451,270	231,538
Slovakia	5,371,875	5,415,949	44,074
Ireland	4,028,851	4,605,501	576,650
Croatia	4,305,725	4,246,809	-58,916
Lithuania	3,398,929	2,943,472	-455,457
Slovenia	1,996,433	2,061,085	64,652
Latvia	2,276,520	2,001,468	-275,052
Estonia	1,366,250	1,315,819	-50,431
Cyprus	722,893	858,000	135,107
Luxembourg	454,960	549,680	94,720
Malta	399,867	425,384	25,517

Turkey	70,692,009	76,667,864	5,975,855
Switzerland	7,364,148	8,139,631	775,483
Norway	4,577,457	5,107,970	530,513
Macedonia	2,029,892	2,065,769	35,877
Iceland	290,570	325,671	35,101
Source: Eurostat
¹Population on the 1st January of the specific year.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2014 Table 1.2 (XLS 13KB)

Ireland had the third highest percentage increase in population between 2004 and 2014 in the EU, behind Luxembourg and Cyprus.
Eleven EU countries, including Germany, experienced population decline over the same time period.
Ireland's population was the twentieth highest in the EU in 2014.

	% population change
Luxembourg	20.8194126956216
Cyprus	18.6897645986335
Ireland	14.3
Spain	9.31841486814334
Belgium	7.76777893084553
United Kingdom	7.55012241327728
Sweden	7.4556439797809
Malta	6.38137180612554
Italy	5.71652587401884
France	5.68824935998048
Austria	4.4742122668105
Finland	4.43582160923205
Denmark	4.25361824797504
Netherlands	3.51369095595334
Slovenia	3.23837564295922
Czech Republic	3.10996771370312
Slovakia	0.820458406050029
Greece	-0.409105301852869
Portugal	-0.436825948505927
Poland	-0.452341580945765
Croatia	-1.36831776297836
Germany	-2.13761332906976
Hungary	-2.36614712523063
Estonia	-3.69119853613907
Bulgaria	-6.44881239826694
Romania	-7.31295300221522
Latvia	-12.0821253492172
Lithuania	-13.4000151224106
	0
Iceland	12.0800495577658
Norway	11.5896883356851
Switzerland	10.5305189412271
Turkey	8.45336705595678
Macedonia	1.76743393244567

Show Map - EU: Population

Ireland: Migration and natural increase

1.3 Ireland: Migration and natural increase, 2006-2015¹

000 persons
Year	Inward migration	Outward migration	Net migration²	Births	Deaths	Natural increase	Population change	Total population
2006	107.8	36.0	71.8	61.2	27.0	34.2	106.0	4,232.9
2007	151.1	46.3	104.8	66.6	28.4	38.2	142.9	4,375.8
2008	113.5	49.2	64.3	73.0	28.0	44.9	109.2	4,485.1
2009	73.7	72.0	1.6	75.3	28.6	46.7	48.3	4,533.4
2010	41.8	69.2	-27.5	77.2	28.4	48.8	21.4	4,554.8
2011	53.3	80.6	-27.4	75.1	27.7	47.5	20.1	4,574.9
2012	52.7	87.1	-34.4	74.0	29.2	44.9	10.5	4,585.4
2013	55.9	89.0	-33.1	70.5	29.7	40.8	7.7	4,593.1
2014	60.6	81.9	-21.4	67.7	29.8	37.9	16.5	4,609.6
2015	69.3	80.9	-11.6	67.0	29.6	37.4	25.8	4,635.4
Source: CSO Population and Migration Estimates
¹ Data refer to the 12 months up to April of each year and is preliminary for years 2012 to 2015.
² Net migration is the number of inward migrants (immigrants) less outward migrants (emigrants).

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2014 Table 1.3 (XLS 19KB)

Annual immigration into Ireland rose from 107,800 people in 2006 to peak at 151,100 in 2007 before falling back sharply to 41,800 in 2010. Since then immigration has climbed steadily to 69,300 in 2015.
The level of annual emigration out of Ireland was 36,000 in 2006 and it increased strongly over the next eight years to 89,000 in 2013 before falling back slightly to 80,900 in 2015.
The combined effect of these changes in immigration and emigration was that net migration turned from positive to negative in 2010 (i.e., more people left the country than arrived) and it has remained negative since then.
The number of births grew from 61,200 in 2006 to 77,200 in 2010 before falling down to 67,000 in 2015 while the number of deaths increased from 27,000 in 2006 to 29,600 in 2015.
The natural increase in the population (i.e., births less deaths), increased from 34,200 in 2006 to 48,800 in 2010 before falling to 37,400 in 2015.
The annual change in the population was over 100,000 during 2006, 2007 and 2008 but in recent years the change has been much smaller, with 25,800 people added to the population in 2015.

Ireland: Immigration and emigration by country of origin/destination

1.4 Ireland: Immigration and emigration by country of origin/destination, 2006-2015¹

000 persons
Year	United Kingdom	Rest of EU 15²	EU 13³	USA	Australia⁴	Canada⁴	Rest of World	All countries
Immigrants:
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	7.1	2.0	20.0	113.5
2009	13.4	18.1	17.5	3.0	7.1	1.0	13.6	73.7
2010	9.1	7.8	8.7	1.7	6.5	0.5	7.6	41.8
2011	11.9	9.7	9.8	3.3	4.5	1.3	12.9	53.3
2012	8.4	10.2	9.3	4.9	4.9	1.6	13.4	52.7
2013	9.7	10.3	11.8	3.6	5.3	1.1	14.1	55.9
2014	9.7	11.2	9.8	2.6	3.6	1.2	22.4	60.6
2015	10.4	10.8	13.4	2.9	2.2	1.6	28.0	69.3
Emigrants:
2006	8.8	5.7	2.3	3.3	..	..	15.8	36.0
2007	11.1	3.5	7.7	3.1	..	..	20.8	46.3
2008	7.6	7.8	10.1	2.4	10.4	1.1	9.8	49.2
2009	13.2	7.4	25.2	4.1	11.1	1.1	9.9	72.0
2010	15.3	11.9	14.6	2.9	10.4	2.4	11.7	69.2
2011	20.0	13.9	10.4	4.7	13.4	2.1	16.2	80.6
2012	19.0	14.4	9.6	8.6	18.2	3.0	14.4	87.1
2013	21.9	11.5	14.2	6.2	15.4	5.3	14.4	89.0
2014	17.9	16.2	8.7	6.9	10.0	4.7	17.5	81.9
2015	19.2	15.3	6.8	7.5	5.9	7.7	18.4	80.9
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).
⁴ Australia and Canada are included with "Rest of World" in 2006 and 2007.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2014 Table 1.4 (XLS 20KB)

In 2006 there were 107,800 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 over 69,000 people moved to live in Ireland in 2015.
About 49,300 people moved to Ireland in 2006 from the EU 13 countries (the 13 new EU countries who joined in 2004, 2007 and 2013). This number rose to 72,600 in 2007 before falling back sharply to just 8,700 in 2010 and rising to 13,400 in 2015.
Immigration from the United Kingdom rose from 17,700 people in 2006 to 19,400 in 2008 before falling back to 10,400 in 2014.
In 2006 there were 36,000 emigrants out of Ireland and this number grew steadily to reach 89,000 emigrants in 2013 before falling slightly to 80,900 in 2015.
The United Kingdom was the main destination for emigrants in 2015 with 19,200 people moving there from Ireland while 15,300 people moved to the Rest of EU 15 countries (those EU countries before enlargement from May 2004 onwards).
Nearly 8,000 people emigrated from Ireland in 2015 to live in Canada, 7,500 moved to live in the United States of America while nearly 6,000 moved to Australia.

	UK	Rest of EU15	EU13	Rest of world
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
2015	10.4	10.8	13.4	28

EU: Young and old age dependency ratios

1.5 EU: Young and old age dependency ratios, 2014¹

% of population aged 15-64
Country	Young and old age dependency ratio	Young age dependency ratio (0-14)	Old age dependency ratio (65 & over)
Slovakia	40.6	21.5	19.0
Poland	42.7	21.5	21.2
Cyprus	43.1	23.3	19.9
Luxembourg	44.7	24.4	20.4
Hungary	47.0	21.2	25.8
Romania	47.1	22.8	24.3
Slovenia	47.2	21.5	25.7
Malta	47.6	21.2	26.4
Czech Republic	47.9	22.2	25.7
Austria	48.4	21.3	27.2
Lithuania	49.4	21.8	27.5
Croatia	49.7	22.1	27.6
Bulgaria	50.0	20.6	29.3
Spain	50.0	22.8	27.2
Latvia	51.0	22.2	28.8
Germany	51.4	19.9	31.5
EU 28	51.8	23.7	28.1
Estonia	51.9	24.0	27.9
Netherlands	52.2	25.8	26.4
Portugal	52.5	22.3	30.3
Ireland	52.9	33.6	19.3
Belgium	53.4	26.1	27.3
United Kingdom	54.2	27.2	27.0
Greece	54.2	22.6	31.6
Italy	54.6	21.5	33.1
Denmark	54.9	26.7	28.3
Finland	55.8	25.6	30.2
Sweden	57.4	26.9	30.6
France	57.6	29.3	28.4

Macedonia	41.3	23.8	17.5
Turkey	47.6	36.3	11.3
Switzerland	48.1	22.1	26.1
Iceland	50.9	31.0	19.9
Norway	51.8	27.7	24.2
Source: Eurostat
¹ Data refers to 1st January.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2014 Table 1.5 (XLS 10KB)

Ireland had the highest young age dependency ratio in the EU in 2014, when the number of people aged under 15 as a percentage of those aged 15-64 was 33.6%.
Ireland had the second lowest old age dependency ratio in the EU in 2014, when the number of people aged 65 and over as a percentage of those aged 15-64 was 19.3%.
This resulted in a combined young and old age dependency ratio of 52.9% in Ireland in 2014 which was the ninth highest dependency ratio in the EU.
In 2014 the highest young and old age dependency ratio in the EU was in France at 57.6% while the lowest was in Slovakia at 40.6%.

EU: Total fertility rate

1.6 EU: Total fertility rate¹, 2003-2013

Country	Total fertility rate			Proportion of live births outside marriage 2013
	2003	2008	2013	Proportion of live births outside marriage 2013
France	1.89	2.01	1.99	56.7
Ireland	1.96	2.06	1.96	35.1
Sweden	1.71	1.91	1.89	54.4
United Kingdom	1.70	1.91	1.83	47.6
Belgium	1.67	1.85	1.75	52.3
Finland	1.76	1.85	1.75	42.1
Netherlands	1.75	1.77	1.68	47.4
Denmark	1.76	1.89	1.67	51.5
Lithuania	1.26	1.45	1.59	29.5
EU 28	1.47	1.61	1.55	40.0
Luxembourg	1.62	1.61	1.55	37.8
Slovenia	1.20	1.53	1.55	58.0
Estonia	1.37	1.72	1.52	58.4
Latvia	1.32	1.58	1.52	44.6
Bulgaria	1.26	1.56	1.48	59.1
Czech Republic	1.18	1.51	1.46	45.0
Croatia	1.41	1.55	1.46	16.1
Austria	1.38	1.42	1.44	41.5
Romania	1.30	1.60	1.41	30.5
Germany	1.34	1.38	1.39	34.8
Italy	1.29	1.45	1.39	26.9
Malta	1.48	1.43	1.38	25.9
Hungary	1.27	1.35	1.35	45.6
Slovakia	1.20	1.34	1.34	37.0
Greece	1.28	1.47	1.30	7.0
Cyprus	1.51	1.48	1.30	18.6
Poland	1.22	1.39	1.29	23.4
Spain	1.30	1.45	1.27	40.9
Portugal	1.44	1.39	1.21	47.6

Turkey	:	2.10	2.08	2.7
Iceland	1.99	2.15	1.93	66.9
Norway	1.80	1.96	1.78	55.2
Switzerland	1.39	1.48	1.52	21.1
Macedonia	1.77	1.47	1.49	11.3
Source: Eurostat
¹ 2012 data used for proportion of live births outside marriage for EU, Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Cyprus, Austria, United Kingdom and Iceland.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2014 Table 1.6 (XLS 20KB)

Ireland had the second highest fertility rate in the EU in 2013 at 1.96, behind France at 1.99.
The lowest fertility rate in 2013 was in Portugal at 1.21.
Eastern EU member states, along with Mediterranean countries, tended to have the lowest fertility rates.
The average EU fertility rate rose from 1.47 in 2003 to 1.55 in 2013 while the rate in Ireland in 2003 was 1.96, the same as the rate in 2013.
Over a third of all births were outside marriage in Ireland in 2013, which was the tenth lowest proportion in the EU.
Bulgaria had the highest proportion of births outside marriage at 59.1% while Greece had the lowest at 7%.
More than half of all births were outside marriage in Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovenia, France, Sweden, Belgium and Denmark.

Show Map - EU: Total fertility rate, 2013

Show Map - EU: Proportion of live births outside marriage, 2013

EU: Divorce rates

1.7 EU: Divorce rates, 2003, 2008 and 2013¹

divorces per 1,000 population
Country	2003	2008	2013
Ireland	0.7	0.8	0.6
Malta	:	:	0.8
Italy	0.8	0.9	0.9
Slovenia	1.2	1.1	1.1
Greece	1.1	1.2	1.2
Croatia	1.1	1.2	1.4
Romania	1.5	1.7	1.4
Bulgaria	1.5	1.9	1.5
Poland	1.3	1.7	1.7
EU 28	2.0	2.0	2.0
Spain	1.1	2.4	2.0
France	2.1	2.1	2.0
Hungary	2.5	2.5	2.0
Netherlands	1.9	2.0	2.0
Austria	2.3	2.4	2.0
Slovakia	2.0	2.4	2.0
Germany	2.6	2.3	2.1
Luxembourg	2.3	2.0	2.1
United Kingdom	2.8	2.2	2.1
Portugal	2.2	2.5	2.2
Cyprus	2.0	2.1	2.4
Belgium	3.0	3.3	2.5
Estonia	2.9	2.6	2.5
Finland	2.6	2.5	2.5
Czech Republic	3.8	3.0	2.7
Sweden	2.4	2.3	2.8
Denmark	2.9	2.7	3.4
Lithuania	3.1	3.2	3.4
Latvia	2.1	2.9	3.5

Macedonia	0.7	0.6	1.0
Iceland	1.8	1.7	1.6
Turkey	0.7	1.4	1.6
Norway	2.4	2.1	2.0
Switzerland	2.3	2.6	2.1
Source: Eurostat
¹ 2010 data used for EU28 and Greece, 2011 used for France, the United Kingdom and Iceland and 2012 data used for Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland and Italy.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2014 Table 1.7 (XLS 12KB)

Ireland had the lowest divorce rate in the EU in 2013, at 0.6 divorces per 1,000 population, while the average rate in the EU was 2.
The highest rate of divorce was in Latvia at 3.5 divorces per 1,000 population.
The divorce rate in Ireland remained stable over the period 2003 to 2013.

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2014

Society - Population

Ireland: Population distribution by age group

EU: Population

Ireland: Migration and natural increase

Ireland: Immigration and emigration by country of origin/destination

EU: Young and old age dependency ratios

EU: Total fertility rate

EU: Divorce rates

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