Society - Population - CSO - Central Statistics Office

Ireland: Population distribution by age group

1.1 Ireland: Population distribution by age group, 2007-2016¹

%						000 persons
Year	0-14 years	15-24 years	25-44 years	45-64 years	65 years and over	Total
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
2016	22.2	11.0	29.2	24.1	13.4	4,673.7
Source: CSO Population Estimates
¹ Persons in April of each year. Data for years 2012 to 2016 is preliminary.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2015 Table 1.1 (XLS 12KB)

The population estimate for Ireland was 4.67 million in April 2016, based on the annual series of Population and Migration estimates produced by the CSO.
Preliminary results from Census 2016 showed a population of 4.76 million persons using the de-facto definition of population i.e., all persons present in the State on Census night. This differs by 84,000 from the population estimates in this table which have been compiled using the usual residence concept. The population estimates above for years 2012 to 2016 will be revised upwards when the final Census results become available in 2017.
The proportion of the population aged 15 to 24 dropped from 15.2% in 2007 to 11% in 2016, partly due to the low number of births in the 1990's.
Conversely, the proportion of the population aged 65 and over increased from 10.8% to 13.4% over the time period 2007 to 2016 while the proportion aged 45-64 increased from 21.8% to 24.1%.

EU: Population

1.2 EU: Population 2005 and 2015¹

persons
Country	2005	2015	Change
EU 28	494,598,322	508,450,856	13,852,534
Germany	82,500,849	81,197,537	-1,303,312
France	62,772,870	66,415,161	3,642,291
United Kingdom	60,182,050	64,875,165	4,693,115
Italy	57,874,753	60,795,612	2,920,859
Spain	43,296,338	46,449,565	3,153,227
Poland	38,173,835	38,005,614	-168,221
Romania	21,382,354	19,870,647	-1,511,707
Netherlands	16,305,526	16,900,726	595,200
Belgium	10,445,852	11,258,434	812,582
Greece	10,969,912	10,858,018	-111,894
Czech Republic	10,198,855	10,538,275	339,420
Portugal	10,494,672	10,374,822	-119,850
Hungary	10,097,549	9,855,571	-241,978
Sweden	9,011,392	9,747,355	735,963
Austria	8,201,359	8,576,261	374,902
Bulgaria	7,688,573	7,202,198	-486,375
Denmark	5,411,405	5,659,715	248,310
Finland	5,236,611	5,471,753	235,142
Slovakia	5,372,685	5,421,349	48,664
Ireland	4,111,672	4,628,949	517,277
Croatia	4,310,861	4,225,316	-85,545
Lithuania	3,355,220	2,921,262	-433,958
Slovenia	1,997,590	2,062,874	65,284
Latvia	2,249,724	1,986,096	-263,628
Estonia	1,358,850	1,313,271	-45,579
Cyprus	733,067	847,008	113,941
Luxembourg	461,230	562,958	101,728
Malta	402,668	429,344	26,676

Turkey	68,010,221	77,695,904	9,685,683
Switzerland	7,415,102	8,237,666	822,564
Norway	4,606,363	5,166,493	560,130
Macedonia	2,035,196	2,069,172	33,976
Iceland	293,577	329,100	35,523
Source: Eurostat
¹Population on the 1st January of the specific year.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2015 Table 1.2 (XLS 13KB)

Ireland had the third highest percentage increase in population between 2005 and 2015 in the EU, behind Luxembourg and Cyprus, (see chart).
Eleven EU countries, including Germany, experienced population decline over the same time period.
In 2015 Ireland's population was the twentieth highest in the EU in 2015 and accounted for just under 1% of the total EU population.

	% population change
Luxembourg	22.0558072978774
Cyprus	15.5430540455374
Ireland	12.5806970984067
Sweden	8.16702902281912
United Kingdom	7.79819730301643
Belgium	7.77899208221598
Spain	7.28289538020513
Malta	6.62481250062086
France	5.80233307796824
Italy	5.04686214384362
Denmark	4.58864195158189
Austria	4.57121801399012
Finland	4.49034690566093
Netherlands	3.65029622472774
Czech Republic	3.32802064545481
Slovenia	3.26813810641823
Slovakia	0.905766855864433
Poland	-0.440670946474202
Greece	-1.02000818238104
Portugal	-1.14200805894648
Germany	-1.57975586408814
Croatia	-1.98440636336917
Hungary	-2.39640332520298
Estonia	-3.35423335909041
Bulgaria	-6.32594631019306
Romania	-7.06988108044605
Latvia	-11.7182374371256
Lithuania	-12.933816560464
	0
Turkey	14.2415108458477
Norway	12.1599187905947
Iceland	12.1000623345834
Switzerland	11.0930908300385
Macedonia	1.66942152008947

Ireland: Migration and natural increase

1.3 Ireland: Migration and natural increase, 2007-2016¹

000 persons
Year	Inward migration	Outward migration	Net migration²	Births	Deaths	Natural increase	Population change	Total population
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
2016	79.3	76.2	3.1	65.2	30.0	35.3	38.4	4,673.7
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 2016.
² Net migration is the number of inward migrants (immigrants) less outward migrants (emigrants).

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2015 Table 1.3 (XLS 19KB)

Annual immigration into Ireland fell sharply from a peak of 151,100 in 2007 to 41,800 in 2010. Since then immigration has climbed steadily to reach 79,300 in 2016.
The level of annual emigration out of Ireland was 46,300 in 2007 and it increased strongly over the next seven years to 89,000 in 2013 before falling back to 76,200 in 2016.
The combined effect of these changes in immigration and emigration was that net migration turned from positive before 2010 to negative in 2010 (i.e., more people left then country than arrived) and it remained negative up to 2015. However in 2016 net migration turned positive again, when 3,100 more people entered the country than left.
The number of births grew from 66,600 in 2007 to 77,200 in 2010 before falling to 65,200 in 2016 while the number of deaths increased from 28,400 in 2007 to 30,000 in 2016.
The natural increase in the population (i.e., births less deaths), increased from 38,200 in 2007 to 48,800 in 2010 before falling to 35,300 in 2016.
The annual change in the population was over 100,000 in 2007 and 2008 but this fell sharply down to just 7,700 in 2013 before increasing to 38,400 in 2016.

Ireland: Immigration and emigration by country of origin/destination

1.4 Ireland: Immigration and emigration by country of origin/destination, 2011-2016¹

000 persons
Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Immigrants:
United Kingdom	11.9	8.4	9.7	9.7	10.4	13.8
Rest of EU 15²	9.7	10.2	10.3	11.2	10.8	12.3
EU 13³	9.8	9.3	11.8	9.8	13.4	10.7
Australia	4.5	4.9	5.3	3.6	2.9	5.5
Canada	1.3	1.6	1.1	1.2	1.6	2.5
USA	3.3	4.9	3.6	2.6	2.2	4.7
Rest of World	12.9	13.4	14.1	22.4	28.0	29.7
Total persons	53.3	52.7	55.9	60.6	69.3	79.3

Emigrants:
United Kingdom	20.0	19.0	21.9	17.9	19.2	16.6
Rest of EU 15²	13.9	14.4	11.5	16.2	15.3	16.0
EU 13³	10.4	9.6	14.2	8.7	6.8	10.7
Australia	13.4	18.2	15.4	10.0	7.5	6.2
Canada	2.1	3.0	5.3	4.7	7.7	3.9
USA	4.7	8.6	6.2	6.9	5.9	6.6
Rest of World	16.2	14.4	14.4	17.5	18.4	16.4
Total persons	80.6	87.1	89.0	81.9	80.9	76.2
Source: CSO Population and Migration Estimates
¹ Data refer to the 12 months up to April of each year and is preliminary for 2012-2016.
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, 2015 Table 1.4 (XLS 20KB)

In 2011 53,300 people migrated into Ireland and this number had risen to 79,300 by 2016.
About 13,800 people moved to live in Ireland from the UK in 2016 while 12,300 moved here from the Rest of EU 15 countries, (those EU countries before enlargement from May 2004 onwards).
Nearly 30,000 people migrated to live in Ireland in 2016 from the Rest of World, (i.e., countries other than the EU, Australia, Canada and the USA).
Thus 37% of immigrants were from the Rest of the World in 2016 while 17% were from the UK and 16% were from the Rest of EU 15.
In 2011 80,600 people emigrated from Ireland and this number grew to 89,000 by 2013 and then fell to 76,200 in 2016.
Close to two-thirds of Irish emigrants went to three main destinations in 2016 - the UK, Rest of World and Rest of EU 15.

	UK	Rest of EU15	EU13	Rest of world
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
2016	13.8	12.3	10.7	29.7

EU: Young and old age dependency ratios

1.5 EU: Young and old age dependency ratios, 2015¹

% 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	41.4	21.7	19.7
Poland	43.8	21.6	22.2
Luxembourg	44.6	24.1	20.5
Cyprus	45.0	23.8	21.2
Hungary	47.9	21.4	26.5
Romania	48.1	23.0	25.2
Slovenia	48.5	21.9	26.6
Austria	48.7	21.2	27.5
Malta	48.9	21.3	27.6
Czech Republic	49.3	22.7	26.6
Lithuania	49.9	21.8	28.1
Croatia	50.4	22.1	28.3
Spain	50.8	22.9	27.9
Bulgaria	51.2	21.0	30.2
Germany	52.0	20.0	32.0
Latvia	52.4	22.8	29.5
EU28	52.6	23.8	28.8
Netherlands	52.7	25.5	27.2
Portugal	53.0	22.0	31.1
Estonia	53.2	24.4	28.7
Belgium	54.0	26.2	27.8
Ireland	54.1	34.1	20.0
United Kingdom	54.8	27.4	27.5
Greece	54.9	22.5	32.4
Italy	55.1	21.4	33.7
Denmark	55.2	26.4	28.8
Finland	57.1	25.7	31.3
Sweden	58.4	27.3	31.1
France	58.7	29.5	29.2

Macedonia	41.8	23.8	18.0
Albania	45.0	27.0	18.1
Montenegro	47.4	27.2	20.2
Turkey	47.6	35.8	11.8
Switzerland	48.5	22.1	26.4
Serbia	48.9	21.4	27.5
Iceland	51.3	30.8	20.5
Norway	52.0	27.4	24.5
Source: Eurostat
¹ Data refers to 1st January.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2015 Table 1.5 (XLS 13KB)

Ireland had the highest young age dependency ratio in the EU in 2015, when the number of people aged under 15 as a percentage of those aged 15-64 was 34.1%.
Ireland had the second lowest old age dependency ratio in the EU in 2015, when the number of people aged 65 and over as a percentage of those aged 15-64 was 20%.
This resulted in a combined young and old dependency ratio of 54.1 in Ireland in 2015 which was the eighth highest dependency ratio in the EU.
In 2015 the highest young and old age depencency ratio in the EU was in France at 58.7% while the lowest was in Slovakia at 41.4%.

EU: Total fertility rate

1.6 EU: Total fertility rate¹, 2004-2014

Country	Total fertility rate			Proportion of live births outside marriage 2014¹
	2004	2009	2014	Proportion of live births outside marriage 2014¹
France	1.92	2.00	2.01	56.7
Ireland	1.93	2.06	1.94	36.3
Sweden	1.75	1.94	1.88	54.6
United Kingdom	1.75	1.89	1.81	47.6
Belgium	1.72	1.84	1.73	47.7
Netherlands	1.72	1.79	1.71	48.7
Finland	1.80	1.86	1.71	42.8
Denmark	1.78	1.84	1.69	52.5
Latvia	1.29	1.46	1.65	44.0
Lithuania	1.27	1.50	1.63	29.0
EU 28	1.50	1.61	1.58	40.2
Slovenia	1.25	1.53	1.58	58.3
Estonia	1.47	1.70	1.54	58.4
Bulgaria	1.33	1.66	1.53	58.8
Czech Republic	1.23	1.51	1.53	46.7
Romania	1.33	1.66	1.52	31.2
Luxembourg	1.66	1.59	1.50	39.1
Germany	1.36	1.36	1.47	35.0
Austria	1.42	1.39	1.47	41.5
Croatia	1.43	1.58	1.46	17.4
Hungary	1.28	1.32	1.44	47.3
Malta	1.40	1.42	1.42	25.9
Italy	1.34	1.45	1.37	28.8
Slovakia	1.25	1.44	1.37	38.9
Spain	1.31	1.38	1.32	42.5
Poland	1.23	1.40	1.32	24.2
Cyprus	1.52	1.47	1.31	18.6
Greece	1.31	1.50	1.30	8.2
Portugal	1.40	1.34	1.23	49.3

Iceland	2.04	2.23	1.93	66.9
Norway	1.83	1.98	1.75	55.5
Switzerland	1.42	1.50	1.54	21.7
Montenegro	:	1.98	1.75	15.7
Macedonia	1.52	1.52	1.52	11.3
Albania	1.79	:	1.79	:
Serbia	1.57	1.44	1.46	25.1
Turkey	:	2.09	2.17	2.8
Source: Eurostat
¹ For the proportion of births outside marriage, 2013 data used for Macedonia, 2012 data used for EU28, Belgium, Estonia, France, Cyprus, Austria and Iceland and 2009 data used for Montenegro.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2015 Table 1.6 (XLS 13KB)

Ireland had the second highest fertility rate in the EU at 1.94 in 2014, behind France at 2.01. The lowest fertility rate in 2014 was in Portugal at 1.23.
Fertility rates in all EU countries in 2014 were below the population replacement level of 2.1.
Eastern EU member states, along with Mediterranean countries, tended to have the lowest fertility rates.
The average EU fertility rate rose from 1.5 in 2004 to 1.61 in 2009 before dropping to 1.58 in 2014. The fertility rate in Ireland rose from 1.93 in 2004 to 2.06 in 2009 before dropping to 1.94 in 2014.
Over a third of all births were outside marriage in Ireland in 2014, which was the tenth lowest proportion in the EU.
Bulgaria had the highest proportion of births outside marriage at 58.8% while Greece had the lowest at 8.2%.
More than half of all births were outside marriage in Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovenia, France, Sweden and Denmark.

Show Map - 1.6a EU: Total fertility rate, 2014

Show Map - 1.6b EU: Proportion of live births outside marriage, 2014

EU: Divorce rates

1.7 EU: Divorce rates, 2004, 2009 and 2014

divorces per 1,000 population
Country	2004	2009 ¹	2014 ²
Ireland	0.8	0.7	0.6
Malta	:	:	0.8
Italy	0.8	0.9	0.9
Slovenia	1.2	1.1	1.2
Croatia	1.2	1.2	1.4
Romania	1.6	1.6	1.4
Bulgaria	1.9	1.6	1.5
Greece	1.1	1.2	1.5
Poland	1.5	1.7	1.7
Slovakia	2.0	2.4	1.9
EU 28	2.0	1.9	2.0
France	2.2	2.0	2.0
Hungary	2.4	2.4	2.0
Austria	2.4	2.3	2.0
United Kingdom	2.8	2.0	2.0
Germany	2.6	2.3	2.1
Netherlands	1.9	1.9	2.1
Spain	1.2	2.1	2.2
Portugal	2.2	2.5	2.2
Belgium	3.0	3.0	2.3
Estonia	3.1	2.4	2.4
Cyprus	2.2	2.2	2.4
Czech Republic	3.2	2.8	2.5
Finland	2.5	2.5	2.5
Luxembourg	2.3	2.1	2.6
Sweden	2.2	2.4	2.7
Latvia	2.3	2.4	3.1
Lithuania	3.3	2.9	3.3
Denmark	2.9	2.7	3.4

Montenegro	:	0.7	0.9
Macedonia	0.8	0.6	1.1
Serbia	:	1.2	1.1
Iceland	1.9	1.7	1.6
Turkey	1.3	1.6	1.7
Norway	2.4	2.1	1.9
Switzerland	2.4	2.5	2.0
Albania	0.9	1.1	:
Source: Eurostat
¹ 2008 data used for Albania
² 2011 data used for EU28, France and Iceland. 2012 data used for Blegium, Ireland, Cyprus, Austria and United Kingdom. 2013 data used for Greece, Croatia and Portugal.

Open in Excel: Measuring Ireland's Progress, 2015 Table 1.7 (XLS 13KB)

Ireland had the lowest divorce rate in the EU in 2014, at 0.6 divorces per 1,000 population, while the average rate in the EU was 2.
The highest rate of divorce was in Denmark at 3.4 divorces per 1,000 population.
The divorce rate in Ireland fell slightly over the period 2004 to 2014, falling from 0.8 in 2004 to 0.6 in 2014.

Measuring Ireland's Progress 2015

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

Contents

Contact:

Links:

Careers

Follow: